Wolfsblood
by royalstandard
Summary: -sequel to Wolfsbane- Finding out the love of his life betrayed him sent Derek Hale over the edge, and out of town. Meanwhile, Lydia remains in Beacon Hills trying to cope with losing the only man she's truly loved and the idea of raising their child without him.
1. Chapter 1

Leaning over the side of her bed, Lydia closed her eyes and willed herself not to throw up. The wave of nausea was so powerful she thought it may carry her right off the side of the bed and onto the floor. Squeezing her eyes shut, she held a fist to her stomach while her other hand clenched to the sheets so she wouldn't fall. After what felt like an hour, it passed, and she opened her eyes with a shaky sigh. Sliding her feet off of the bed, she slowly stood and moved as quickly as she could manage down the stairs to the kitchen.

Opening the refrigerator, she dug down into the bottom drawers and pulled out three cheese sticks, opening each one and eating it before the first one was down good. She was so hungry, but she was so nauseous, but if she didn't eat she felt even sicker. It was a vicious cycle and one of the side effects of being pregnant.

The thought hit her like a truck, the realization that she was going to be a mother. Her hand tenderly rested over her belly that was still mostly flat, and she closed her eyes as a wave of emotion rushed over her.

Needless to say, her parents had been surprised and irate at the revelation. She'd been afraid they would kick her out at first, but they'd come around when they realized they didn't want to lose their only child (and future grandchild) by ostracizing her. Her mother had cried for about two hours, and her father had shut down as he always did when he couldn't handle something. It took two weeks before they both admitted they disliked the circumstances, but they would support her and her child.

Her parents' forgiveness meant worlds to her now with Derek gone.

Derek... the love of her life and the father to her unborn child. He was gone. He hated her, felt betrayed by her, and she couldn't blame him. It broke her heart to remember she'd agreed to Peter's murderous plan. She hadn't followed through with it, and Derek had lived, but at what price? He still got his heart broken, and she had lost him. If she'd never gone into that train depot and apologized to him in the first place, if she'd never become his friend, never fallen in love with him, none of this would have happened. He would be happy and safe, and although she never would have felt the kind of love she felt with him, he would never have been hurt by her.

Her hand ran over her belly subconsciously as her mind reeled in thought. If she couldn't have him, then at least she would have their baby. It was the only thing that kept her upright as she finished the cheese and straightened her black dress over her thighs.

Gerard Argent's funeral was today. According to the news reports, the man had died in a tragic hunting accident, his body mangled by some rabid beast. Lydia shook her head. If they only knew... She remembered the roar in her head as she'd been passing out from the drug Gerard had pumped into her bloodstream on the tips of the arrows his hunters had shot at her. Derek had defended her. It had to be him since Peter had no reason to care if she lived or died. The knowledge that Derek had cared enough to save her life even after learning about her betrayal gave her a small glimmer of hope. She didn't know what she hoped for since there was no chance of him returning to Beacon Hills, but the vague feeling gave her some relief against her days of depression at his absence.

Closing her eyes and sighing, she willed herself to move. At least at a funeral she could sob in public and no one would look at her like she was crazy. Gathering her purse and keys from the counter-top, she headed out to her car and departed for the funeral.

As she parked and stepped out of her car, pulling her black dress down, she spotted Allison and her father making their way to the graveside. Allison didn't cry, but she held her father's hand tightly as they advanced on the open grave. Allison knew her grandfather had controlled the kanima, almost getting her best friend killed twice, and she didn't forgive the man. He had brainwashed her in many ways, most notable being her misplaced hatred for Derek. The thought of him, even in such a distant way, sent a pang through Lydia's heart and she visibly winced as a tear rolled down her cheek.

She moved through the crowd until she was directly behind Allison. Sliding her fingers into her best friend's hand, she smiled encouragingly at the taller girl when Allison turned to see who was touching her. Allison squeezed her hand in return and tugged her gently, pulling her to stand at her side. Leaning against the brunette as Allison hugged her, Lydia began to cry. She cried for the loss of Allison's family member (no matter how evil, he was still her grandfather), she cried for her lost love, and she cried for the sake of crying.

"You're kidding me, right?!" Allison asked incredulously as they sat in her bedroom.

Lydia shook her head sadly, "Nope. It's true."

"Wow..." the other girl commented in amazement. "You're gonna have a baby. I can't believe it."

Lydia scrunched up her nose. She hated the idea of being a teen mom, but she couldn't avoid it. Getting rid of the baby was unthinkable for she would never get rid of anything she shared with Derek. This baby was the only thing of him she had left.

"So you're gonna have a puppy," Allison teased, Lydia pushing her shoulder and laughing at the comment.

"I guess so," she pursed her lips before giggling again.

"Are you scared?" Allison asked in a small voice, her mouth drawing to one side in an unsure half-smile.

Lydia nodded and swallowed heavily, her hand subconsciously resting on her belly. "I'm scared out of my mind." Allison nodded and reached over, patting her hand reassuringly.

"Well, you're not alone," she commented with a small smile, "You've always got me. And Stiles, and Scott, and probably Jackson too. He's not as much of a jerk as he wants everyone to think he is."

She knew all of this, but hearing the words out of her best friend's mouth reassured her. Even if Derek was gone, she had her friends. It wasn't quite an adequate replacement, but they would have to be enough.

"I can see Stiles trying to change a diaper," Lydia joked, laughing and shaking her head. "That's a scary picture."

"He'd probably end up getting a mess everywhere and dumping diapers all over the room, but he'd succeed," Allison laughed. "Poor Stiles."

Lydia laughed until her sides hurt and she collapsed back on the floor of Allison's bedroom. She stared up at the ceiling, not able to let go of the empty feeling in her chest.

"You really love him, don't you?" Allison asked, shifting so she was laying down on the floor beside her petite friend.

Tears rose in Lydia's eyes but she didn't bother wiping them away. "I do..." she managed quietly.

"Where is he? He's a father, damn it," Allison exclaimed, cursing for the first time Lydia could remember.

"It's complicated..."

"Pfft, it's never complicated when a baby's involved. He's the father; he should be here."

"He hates me," Lydia explained tiredly, her hands rested on her waist.

Allison sat up and huffed. "You didn't do what Peter wanted you to do. You didn't manipulate him; you honestly fell in love with him. You can't help what Peter and Gerard did as a result."

"Explain that to Derek," she grumbled, rolling to her side and sitting up.

"I will. I'll find his sour werewolf ass and beat it into him if I have to," Allison vowed, half-jokingly. Lydia smiled a sad smile and ran her index finger through the carpet by her left ankle.

"It's no use, Allison. He's gone. I have to do this on my own." Her green eyes looked up at her friend sadly. Allison reached over and took her hand, looking into her eyes.

"You're not alone, Lydia. You'll always have me."


	2. Chapter 2

Derek flew across the room, his back slamming so hard against the solid metal wall it knocked the wind from his lungs and almost knocked him unconscious. He slumped to the floor and willed himself to hold on to his alertness. It was in moments like these, when he was half-senseless and weak, that he couldn't stop thinking about her. He still saw her in his thoughts all day long, and he couldn't push her away. He tried so desperately to forget her, but it was true: werewolves mate for life. He'd chosen her, imprinted on her, and he could never go back. All he could do was avoid her and become half a being without her.

The betrayal was more than he could bear. He'd seen Peter's victorious grin as he'd hovered over her, triumphant that he'd defeated his nephew. However, he hadn't won the war. He may have won the battle - succeeding in Derek falling in love with his pawn and getting his heart and soul broken - but he had not won the war. Derek had pulled out his own maneuver, killing that murderous bastard Gerard. He'd turned full alpha in that moment, unable to deny it was mostly because he saw the arrows protruding from Lydia's petite body and the urge to protect her overpowered him. His anger had always been his anchor, and it fueled his rage as he attacked the old hunter, ending his life so swiftly he couldn't revel in it. The other hunters had been just as unlucky, and he'd strung their body parts so far and wide even the news reporters hadn't found them. The forest animals had taken care of them by then.

He'd shown his weakness by taking Lydia to the hospital and lingering until he knew she would be okay. It cost him dear time he could have been using to get as far from her as possible, but the closer he was to her, the stronger his magnetism to her was. It shattered what was left of his soul when he told her goodbye, but it was necessary. He couldn't trust her, and his love for her would only weaken him again. Peter would kill him next time if Derek didn't get to him first. A small part of him also knew Lydia was safer the farther he was from her, and he couldn't escape his desire to keep her safe. So he'd left. He'd run, was more like it.

And now he was getting his ass kicked.

Shaking his head to clear the fuzziness remaining from his contact with the unflinching wall, he focused on his assailant just as the man grabbed him by the throat and hoisted him effortlessly into the air. He growled, his eyes glowing red as he glared at the man.

"You stupid dog," the man spat, tossing him again, this time causing him to slide across the floor until he caught his balance and rose to his feet, glaring daggers. "You think you're so clever, but you will see. You will serve me one day, _pup_."

The words boiled Derek's blood, and he lunged for the him, but was too late. The man was gone in a flash, seemingly materialized into thin air although Derek knew better. Cursing to himself, he punched the floor and growled angrily. So close...

An hour later he was laying on the uncomfortable bed in the hotel room he'd rented, with his hands behind his head and his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. Thoughts of Lydia interfered with his purpose for being here, and he tried to sort through them and figure it all out. He couldn't worry about Lydia right now. She would take care of herself. He had to worry about himself.

Outside, the brakes on a car screeched to a halt and he winced at the noise. It was much louder for him than it would be for a human, and he shook his head irritably as he continued staring relentlessly at the ceiling. He could hear footsteps outside on the pavement, and his senses prickled. His muscles tensed visibly, and he lunged, throwing open the door to see a stunned Isaac standing outside, fist raised to knock.

"Isaac..." he backtracked, surprised by the familiar face this far from home. "How did you find me? What are you doing here?"

"It's good to see you too, Derek," Isaac remarked, smiling his goofy smile.

"Come in," Derek urged, grabbing him and easily pulling him into the hotel room, checking the parking lot warily before he closed the door.

"I found you by your scent, and I seemed to be able to just... know where you were," Isaac answered him honestly, eyeing the room with a skeptical gaze.

"That's because you're a member of my pack," Derek explained, finally turning to face him, "You can sense your alpha. Damn, I should have anticipated this." He stalked past Isaac toward the sink at the back of the hotel room. He hadn't been thinking when he left town. He should've known Isaac, and his other betas as well, would be able to track him even if no one else could.

The teenager took a seat on the edge of the bed and watched him as he turned back toward the room. "You just disappeared... We had no idea where you were."

"That was the point," Derek grumbled, pacing toward the window. A movement outside caught his attention, and his eyes widened.

"Get down!" he yelled, grabbing Isaac and throwing him to the floor just as the window shattered and a silver arrow lodged itself into the far wall.

Venturing a peek above the windowsill, he saw the archer standing on the far side of the parking lot. Only a supernatural being could make that shot. He suspected whoever it was had only missed out of choice.

"We have to get out of here," Derek cursed, seeing the car Isaac had brought parked directly outside of the door. The archer knocked another arrow, and this time, Derek saw the archer's master standing behind him in the shadows: the same man he'd been tracking before.

"You led them straight to me, damn it."

"I'm sorry! How was I supposed to know you were on the lam?"

"I'm not on the lam," Derek snapped crossly, gathering his one bag of belongings and inching to the door. "It's... complicated." Isaac raised his eyebrows in a 'well-duh' look and followed him, inching along the ratty carpet.

"When I say run, you run," he ordered the younger werewolf. The teenager nodded and set himself to bolt at the command. Derek grabbed the doorknob and turned it, steeling himself.

"Run."

The door flew open as he raced through it, Isaac on his heels. The swish of an arrow cut past his head, and he twisted out of the way, just missing it by mere inches. He leapt into the driver's seat as Isaac dove into the passenger's side and tossed him the keys. Revving the engine, he floored the car and was out of the parking lot in a flash, watching in the rearview mirror for any followers.

"What exactly was that? What's going on?" Isaac asked, his voice high with anxiety.

Derek didn't answer as he swung the car off the road and into a secluded little copse of trees, the shadows hiding them from view of the road. They waited for what seemed like an eternity, but surely enough, a black SUV sped past them, throwing up leaves in its rush. It sped off down the road, and Derek breathed a sigh of relief, hitting his forehead on the steering wheel as he sighed.

"What is going on, Derek?" asked the teenager again, examining his face candidly.

Turning to look at the boy, he sighed and ground his teeth together. "Vampires."


	3. Chapter 3

After waiting long enough to assure himself the vampires were long gone, Derek drove them back the opposite direction. They were in North Carolina, in the Appalachian Mountains where wolves could thrive easily. The mist settled over the tops of the hills, hugging them in a blue-gray cloud, and the air was laden with moisture as the two werewolves climbed out of the car and hiked toward one of the peaks.

"Vampires..." Isaac said, incredulously as he scrambled up the hillside after his alpha, "So vampires do exist."

"Just like werewolves _do_ exist," Derek stated wryly.

"So how did we not know about them until now?" the teenager asked again, slipping on a rock and hastening to catch back up to Derek.

"I knew about them before now. You didn't," he replied, glancing back at the boy, "There's a difference."

"Why didn't you tell us about them?"

"Because I don't have to tell you everything that I know if I don't think it's important," Derek retorted exasperatedly, coming to a halt. Sighing heavily, he rolled his eyes and then began climbing again. "I'm going to tell you what I know, and I'm only going to say it once, so pay attention." When Isaac nodded fervently, he continued.

"Vampires and werewolves are very intrinsically linked. Essentially, werewolves were created to be protectors for the vampires: watching over their coffins while they slept. Our bite is poisonous to them, and our loyalty to them and to each other was invaluable. However, over time, werewolves began to want their own lives, their own freedom, and we began forming packs, began becoming something outside of the vampires.

Some vampires, like our faceless friend back there, are unfortunately still set in the archaic mindset that we should be his guard dogs because we're werewolves. I think he's been sleeping in a coffin for too long."

"So you're tracking him, why?"

_Because I needed something to do to take my mind off of Lydia_, Derek thought to himself. Instead he replied, "It didn't start off as me tracking him, but the other way around. I didn't know they were vampires until I picked up on their scent. It's a nasty, poisonous sort of smell." He sniffed at the thought and shook his head.

"And they're tracking you to force you to protect them?" Isaac asked, catching on quickly as was his way.

"They're tracking me to turn us into their slaves. They know I'm an alpha, and they want a pack to serve them," he responded, fixing the boy with a penetrating gaze. "I don't feel like being anyone's pet."

Isaac nodded as they rounded the top of the hill, affording them a view of the mountains rolling away in the distance. The fog had lowered, covering the treetops and rendering view impossible more than about a mile away in all directions. "We need to disappear into the wilderness before they can find us again," Derek noted, his brow furrowed as he scanned the rolling horizon.

"Back to Beacon Hills?" Isaac asked innocently, unaware - as was everyone else back at 'home' - of Derek's intimate connection with Lydia.

"No," Derek replied shortly, "The last thing we want to do is lead them right back to our... friends." He stumbled over the word, his thoughts going to her immediately. She was immune to werewolves and the kanima, but would she be immune to a vampire? He didn't know, and he couldn't clue the vampires hunting him in to her existence. Even if his heart was broken and he had vowed to stay away from her, he didn't want to know she was in danger. It was a delicate balance, and it drove him insane on a daily basis, but he couldn't escape it. Perhaps he could escape her presence, but he knew he would never escape his love for her.

"Very wise, we are," came a female voice, laced with poisonous honey.

The two werewolves spun in surprise at being snuck up on to see a lithe blond figure standing behind them. She was smaller than both of them by quite a height difference, her blond wavy hair brushing the bottoms of her earlobes. Derek recognized the scent instantly as the breeze lifted and brushed past them, and he growled threateningly.

"Vampire..."

The female smiled blithely and shifted her weight, crossing her arms over her chest smoothly. "How astute we are. I wouldn't expect less from an alpha." Her smile was brilliant, cunning and mischievous.

"We won't be joining your 'pack' if that's why you're here. So I suggest you run along now, Blondie," he growled at her, the hair on the back of his neck bristling with the sense of danger he felt in this female's presence. He imagined an entire troop of vampires launching from the hillside, attacking him and his beta and tearing them to shreds. Although he'd get a few good, critical bites on a few of them, they would stand no chance against an entire group of vampires.

The vampire laughed a tinkling laugh and shook her head. "So caustic... You should really show more respect to the Queen of the Damned," she replied casually, her eyes flashing.

Derek's heart leapt in his chest, and his eyes widened. She'd honestly surprised him with that one. He felt Isaac shift uncomfortably beside him.

"Queen of the Damned?" he asked, wanting more information before he jumped to conclusions.

"You mean, like the Ann Rice novel?" Isaac interjected.

The vampire laughed again, one of those sounds that appears pleasant but hides multiple underlying dangers. "The woman had more right than she knew." She pouted slightly before looking back at Derek.

"And I have no desire to make you my pet, Mister Hale," she continued, "I'm merely here to offer you a deal. We have a common enemy, it seems."

Tilting his head slightly and narrowing his eyes skeptically, he examined this 'queen'. She was significantly smaller than him and slender, her round face and blond hair lending her an air of innocence Derek highly anticipated was carefully manicured to appear so angelic. She had no living, beating heart so he couldn't judge whether she was lying as he could with humans, but something told him she wasn't. Although he doubted her intentions were pure in being here, he suspected she didn't want the same thing the other vampires who'd been chasing him wanted.

"How do you know my name?" he asked out of context, his brow furrowing as he watched her.

"I know many things," she replied candidly, shifted her weight and smiling when the two werewolves tensed instantly. "First off, I believe you need a lesson in vampires before you try to teach your beta here."

He frowned and Isaac looked questioningly between them, but neither responded before the blond vampire continued.

"Vampires are not like werewolves other than the fact that we're both immortal," she explained, walking toward them at an angle so she wasn't directly approaching; the action seeming more like stalking and getting under Derek's skin. He turned so he was facing her at all times as she glided toward the hilltop. "Werewolves form packs, whereas vampires form covens. The imagery would be more akin to wolves in packs and lions in a pride. Wolves are equal, with one alpha who leads them but who remains one of them. Lions, on the other hand, have one king and one queen and the lionesses hunt for them and serve them. Although all covens aren't specifically king and queen based, they do have definite rulers and loyal subjects. Quite unlike your 'packs'."

"And you're the queen of one of these covens?" Derek asked, turning once more as she drew nearer and smiled angelically once more.

"I'm the queen of every coven, for I am the queen of the vampires."

"And what does that mean, exactly?" he growled, disliking caginess.

"It means what you think it means. There are vampires, and then there's me. I am their queen, their empress... their mother." The words hit him with a profound realization and his eyes widened slightly in surprise.

"Vampires aren't born. Everyone knows they can't reproduce," he countered.

The Vampire Queen chuckled amusedly. "There has to be one. Humans want a leader, as do werewolves. Vampires are no different. If it helps you to understand, I am one of the original vampires created by powers so ancient even you wouldn't know them. I have partaken in or helped to create every vampire strain existing in the world today, and therefore I have a connection to each of them.

"You see," she persisted, stopping at the crest of the hill and peering out over the foggy mountaintops, "When a human becomes a vampire, their natural gifts are enhanced. For some, that may be a penchant for mathematics or writing, while others have more subtle talents such as selfless love or being attuned to the feelings of others."

Turning to face them, she smiled a sadder smile, "As a human, I was a natural nurturer. I tended the animals on my father's homestead, nursing them back to life when they were ailing and comforting them in death. As a vampire, that talent was amplified, tuning me in to the emotions and, sometimes the thoughts, of those around me, especially other vampires."

She stepped toward them now, and Derek refused to budge this time, but stared her down as she grew closer to him. Her eyes never left his, and he was thankful she wouldn't be able to compel him since he was a werewolf and therefore impervious to her devices. "For instance, I can sense in you a listelessness, a despair I don't believe you share with your companion here."

She glanced aloofly at Isaac before turning her powerful gaze back on him. "It appears your alpha is heartbroken." She smiled knowingly, and Derek fumed, glaring back at her.

"My emotions are none of your concern," he snapped, ignoring Isaac's curious glance. "You still haven't told us what you want. If I know vampires, they don't just show up for pleasant conversation and history lessons. There's always and ulterior motive. Maybe you're their queen, but why would you want a lowly alpha and his pack to help you? Why can't you take care of your problems on your own? Surely you have connections."

The vampire smirked and clucked disapprovingly, moving away from him and peering out over the trees once more. "Like I said, we have a common enemy."

"And that would be?"

"Adrian, my husband, and the King of the Damned," she replied simply.

Derek laughed spitefully and shook his head. "Oh no. I don't think so."

She narrowed her eyes, a flash of annoyance passing over her perfectly preserved face. "Who do you think the vampires are who have been following you? The ones who wish to make you their guard dogs for the rest of eternity while they destroy humankind and cause us all to starve to death?!"

Realizing she had gotten overworked and revealed more than she'd planned, the girl closed her lips and drew in a deep breath. Looking back at the two werewolves, she calmly continued. "My husband has been asleep for far too long, cloistered in his coffin and stuffed away in Europe somewhere. His views of the world and how things are supposed to work are a bit...out-of-date."

"Tell me about it," Derek remarked sarcastically. She ignored him.

"He intends to regain the protection he once had, long before your ancestors found a sense of independence and left him naked to his enemies. With a pack of werewolves as his shield once again, he will grow in power until he defeats all of the errant vampire covens and gains control. Once he has that control, he will easily be able to crush humankind, turning them and feeding off of them one-by-one until 'human' will be a term for the history books.

"Essentially, we will all die of thirst, but Adrian is too power-hungry and lunatic to see that grim future past his visions of a grand Age of Vampires."

Her words made sense. A vampire old enough to see werewolves as his only adequate method of protection against his enemies who also wanted more power than he already had; it was verging on stereotypical actually.

"If we agree to help you, we need you to agree to something in return," he replied finally. The vampiress nodded in understanding, setting her feet as she prepared to hear his terms.

"We don't become watchdogs for any one of your kind, and our... families and friends stay out of this."

She smiled benignly, that hidden purpose flashing behind her eyes once more and sparking a fuse of mistrust in Derek. However, she was right: he wanted this King dead, and without her help it would never happen. Without his help, she had no chance at killing an original vampire even stronger than she was.

"It seems we have ourselves a necessary alliance," she responded, turning to walk away.

"You know my name, and probably his," Derek stated, gesturing toward Isaac, "But you never told us yours." His jaw set firmly as she stopped and turned to look at them with another of her gratingly pleasant smiles.

"You may call me Eve. We'll keep in touch." With that, she was gone in a blur, disappeared into the treeline at the base of the hill.

* * *

_If it helps you to visualize her, I picture Eve as Dianna Agron in my head, petite and blond with a brilliant smile but capable of mischief. Obviously, Eve and Adrian are my OC's and not part of Teen Wolf. Hope you enjoyed hearing all of the history!_


	4. Chapter 4

_I thought morning sickness was supposed to go away after three months_, Lydia thought to herself, sighing tiredly. She was already into her second trimester, and she still felt sick every morning when she woke up. Her belly was beginning to round out now, but not so dramatically that anyone who didn't know better wouldn't just believe she'd put on a little weight around the middle. If at all possible, she preferred to keep her pregnancy a secret so it didn't spread around the school like wildfire, but she doubted her wishes would be granted. Teenagers thrived on drama and rumors, and the most popular girl in school getting knocked up was a story for the front pages.

Then there was the simple fact of who the father was. Allison was the only one who knew about her being pregnant, and that the father was Derek. She could only imagine how Stiles, Scott, and especially Jackson would react when they found out. She couldn't keep it a secret forever, and even if she could hide her swelling belly with loosely-fitted blouses for a few months, her boobs were getting so huge she couldn't hide them anymore. If nothing else, rumors that she'd gotten breast implants would start frolicking around school.

What she dreaded most was the confrontations she faced with her male friends. Jackson, she knew, would belittle her and probably call her a whore to cover up his sadness at her sleeping with another guy. Stiles would hit her with that sorrow, his big brown eyes so full of love for her that he couldn't deny being happy for her while all the time wishing she loved him the way she loved Derek. Scott was the easiest one to manage because he noticed little else in the world outside of Allison and lacrosse, so she wasn't terribly worried about him.

Rounding the corner and not paying attention, she rammed directly into Jackson who stumbled backward as she gasped in surprise. Her eyes widened as she recognized him, and her stomach lurched painfully. She couldn't handle this right now. Unfortunately, she had dropped the papers she'd been holding in her surprise, and with them were some pamphlets about eating healthy while pregnant.

With a small yelp, she dove to the floor and began gathering them, followed closely by Jackson who almost instinctively grabbed one of the pamphlets, his eyes widening at the sight of it. They rose together, Lydia watching him intently, fearfully, the entire time, and his gray-blue eyes trained so hard on the paper in his hand she thought his eyes may explode. She could see the surprise in his eyes, but almost as quickly as she noticed it it disappeared. He turned to look into her gaze and a dark smile curved over his lips as he tossed the pamphlet at her.

"Seems someone's been busy since we broke up," he noted, smirking and raising one eyebrow. Noticing the other students slowing to watch them, Lydia glanced around nervously and then back at him.

"Let's not talk about this here," she urged, reaching out for his arm to pull him out of the hallway. He jerked his elbow away from her touch and shook his head, that derisive sneer on his handsome face.

"Why not, Lydia?" he asked, gesturing around at the gathering crowd, waiting for the kill, "I think this is the perfect place to talk about the fact that you're a slut."

Murmurs echoed around the ring of students, and she felt heat rising in her cheeks. Tears threatened to spill over onto her cheeks, but she urged herself to remain strong. He wanted to make her feel bad, as bad as he felt for her breaking up for him.

"I'm not a slut..." she argued in a quiet voice. He snorted mockingly.

"So you had to break up with me so you could screw someone else?" he asked, watching her with a contemptuous glare in his eyes.

The tears were close to winning now, and she shook her head, wiping at her eyes. "It wasn't like that. I just... We grew apart..."

Pursing his lips and nodding tauntingly, he retorted, "Apparently. I never would have expected this out of the Lydia Martin I knew." He stepped closer to her, tilting his head in a predatory way that instantly reminded her of the kanima he'd once been. "I never would have expected sweet little Lydia to turn into a tramp."

She squeezed her eyes shut, thoroughly mortified as the kids in the circle shook their heads and whispered to themselves. So much for keeping her pregnancy a secret. Now the entire school would know within minutes, and the entire town shortly thereafter. People would never look at her the same way again. Despite how far society had come in the centuries, people still looked down on unwed teen moms. It was just who they were; they couldn't help it really.

"Stop it, Jackson," she whispered, knowing only he could hear her due to how close he'd gotten to her. She imagined the kanima snarling in her face, snapping at her, and she had to open her eyes to remember she was still in school and Jackson was a werewolf now. He may not be a kanima anymore, but he was certainly still a monster.

He sneered at her and sniffed cockily. As she looked into his eyes, she saw the hurt there and she knew he was only striking out at her to make himself feel better. Making her feel like a bug made him feel better that she'd dumped him, and she felt sorry for him in that moment. He saw her pity cross her face because it surprised him for a moment before he backed away from her, glaring at her because she'd seen his moment of weakness.

"You're not worth it," he hissed.

"I'm sorry, Jackson..." she replied in a small, sincere voice. "I really didn't mean to hurt you."

His mouth tightened and he shook his head almost imperceptibly. The crowd had begun dispersing now that the action had died down, leaving them in the middle of a mill of students who ignored them for the most part.

"I know," he replied honestly, looking down at the floor uncomfortably. She wiped her eyes and tried to smile at him, still caring about him even after his hateful tirade. She knew that it was all just because she had hurt him, and he had yet to forgive himself for the people he'd murdered while he was a kanima.

"Who was it?" he asked, his voice barely more than a whisper as he looked back up at her with sad eyes. Her throat constricted at the question, and she had to look away from his gaze.

"It doesn't matter. He's gone now," she replied simply, feeling that familiar pain at Derek's absence.

"Then he's an idiot," Jackson added, offering her a small, sad smile. "I'm sorry for what I said."

"I know you are," she answered, waving off the apology. "All is forgiven." She smiled at him and wiped her shining eyes from the remaining tears.

"I may not be thrilled about you being with another guy, or at least having a kid, but we've known each other for a long time," he input, shrugging slightly, "Too long for me to keep being an asshole to you. I've done some pretty bad things over the past year. All we can ask for is forgiveness, right?"

"Right," she affirmed with a pleased grin. Holding out her hand for him to shake, she smiled a close-lipped smile. "Friends?"

Carefully, he took her hand and squeezed it in a handshake. "Friends."

* * *

Dropping her purse on the floor the second she crested the threshold into her room, Lydia switched on the light and entered the room before she realized she wasn't alone. Gasping as the figure of a blond girl came into sight, she backed into the wall and held her hand over her heart until she calmed down. The girl watched her calmly, smiling ever so slightly to herself, but otherwise she made no threatening move. Lydia didn't recognize the young woman so her guard was instantly up as she recovered from the initial shock of discovering a stranger lurking in her bedroom.

"I apologize for scaring you," the young woman spoke, her voice smooth and sweet as she rose from her seat on Lydia's writing desk. "I mean you no harm."

"That's good to know considering you were hanging out in my bedroom in the dark, and I have no idea who you are," she answered, eyebrows raised as she glanced warily at the open door behind her, debating if she should get out while she still could. Her parents weren't home, and wouldn't be for a while yet, so she was alone with this stranger. With all of the crazy supernatural things in her life since getting involved with Peter's plan, and then Derek, she had no doubt this mysterious woman was somehow connected with it.

She was reminded of Derek's words to her as he held her in his arms in this very room, _Being the mate to a werewolf - especially an alpha - isn't easy. My enemies will try to hurt you to get to me. _But was she even considered his mate anymore? She hoped with all of her heart that it was true, that werewolves did mate for life, and she was still his. Everything about her soul promised her to him, and she would always be his until her dying day, but did he consider her so? The words still chilled her and made her extra cautious around this female. Even if Derek no longer considered her his mate, this woman may not know that. She had another life to protect besides her own, and the thought of that made her hand subconsciously go to her stomach.

She instantly regretted the movement when it caught the blond's eye and she smiled knowingly.

"It seems this situation is more complicated than Derek thought," remarked the girl, and Lydia's attention instantly perked at the sound of his name. Her heart betrayed her with a violent leap, and the clever smile on the other woman's face made her uneasy. "I'm guessing he hasn't been around for, oh... five months or so?" Her eyebrows raised as she glanced down at Lydia's belly and back up to her face. She couldn't lie anymore.

She nodded slowly, trying to calm the rising fear in her chest. She'd been victimized by so many mythical creatures over the past year, her wariness peaked in the presence of this woman. Whether she was a werewolf or something else, Lydia couldn't know, but she knew she wasn't merely human. Her perfect skin and uncanny knack for knowing the truth without Lydia saying a word communicated volumes about her.

"There's no need to fear me," the deceptively-young-looking woman soothed, offering her a pleasant smile. "My name is Eve Begnoche. I'm a recently-acquired friend of Derek Hale's."

His name made her heart leap again, and a surge of jealousy - more powerful thanks to the pregnancy hormones - washed over her at Eve's phrasing. This woman was gorgeous, inhumanly beautiful, and Lydia felt bloated and washed out in comparison. Her golden hair bounced and shone with a extra-human light, and her body moved like a panther. Lydia had always wished for that sort of grace, but she felt clumsy next to this golden-haired goddess. Damn supernatural creatures and their unnatural beauty.

"Why shouldn't I fear you?" she asked, her voice quiet and careful as she continued standing still beside the door.

Eve laughed a tinkling, attractive laugh, her gray-green eyes flashing with amusement. "I won't hurt you unless it's necessary." She shrugged nonchalantly, and Lydia let out a breath of air in a whoosh.

"If Derek refuses to comply and reneges on our deal, then I may have to hurt you to get his cooperation," Eve commented honestly as Lydia moved past her and sat on the bedside, afraid she may be sick. "That would be unfortunate, however, since I hate forcing people to do what I want, and I'm only trying to help you all. For the good of the human race and all that." She waved her hand about in a dismissive gesture and offered Lydia another smile.

"Now, we're going to give your boyfriend a little call."

The mixture of anxiety and anticipation she felt as Eve said they were going to call him was so overwhelming, she swooned and was overcome with dizziness. When she caught her bearings, she realized Eve was talking into her phone, gliding toward her from the desk where she'd been leaning.

"What do you want, Eve?" Derek barked into the phone, irritated that she would wake him after he'd finally fallen asleep for the night. Sitting up in the uncomfortable hotel bed he'd been dozing off in, he ran his fingers back through his spiky black hair and waited impatiently for her response.

"I have someone who I believe wants to speak with you, or at least I imagine you would like to speak with her," the vampiress replied cagily. His brow furrowing, his imagination not able to fully kick in thanks to his tiredness and the time of night.

He heard scratching on the other end of the line and he waited tiredly. The next sound he heard was a faint whimpering and a sucking in of breath, and somehow he knew it was her. Although she hadn't spoken a word, too afraid of the vampire who literally hovered over her, it was as if he felt her. His whole body suddenly felt alive, and the realization that Eve was in the same room with Lydia woke him up fully.

"Derek..." Lydia was crying, softly, refusing to be seen as weak by the supernatural woman who no doubt held the phone to the side of her head, forcing her to speak to him.

"Lydia," he spoke, his voice disobeying him and cracking with emotion. He hadn't said her name in months, and the sound of her voice, even small and frightened as it was, was more of a relief than he preferred to admit. "Did she hurt you? Are you okay?"

The question calmed her even though he sounded very businesslike, asking her the questions as if he was required to do so. Shaking her head and swallowing even as she trembled from the fear the woman standing next to her instilled in her, she answered him. "No. She promised she won't. She just wants you to do something for her."

He ground his teeth together and his hand gripping the phone tightened until the cellphone almost broke before he caught himself. "Listen, Lydia, I-"

"She can no longer hear you, Derek," came Eve's voice over the line, smooth and poisonous.

"What did you do to her?" he asked hastily, anxiety clenching his throat. "If you touched a hair on her head, so help me-"

"I didn't do anything to her... not yet. She of far more value than even you're aware, I believe. Besides, I dislike unnecessary violence," Eve replied simply, and he heard Lydia whimpering in the background.

With the absence of Derek's voice, no matter how aloof he'd sounded, she felt like a scared little girl again. She cringed as the beautiful blond brushed a hand over the top of her hair, a maternal smile on her dangerously gorgeous face. Lydia's hands went to her stomach as if subconsciously protecting her unborn child.

"No, I won't hurt her. I gave you my word, and that means something," Eve snapped in a toxic tone. "However, I must insure you're holding up your end of the bargain. That's why I've paid a visit to Miss Martin."

"How did you know about her?" he asked, sighing regretfully into the phone.

"I already explained this to you: I'm attuned to the emotions of those around me. Werewolves not excluded. This little thing here, for instance, is so afraid of me the only other emotion she can feel is her love for you," Eve spoke, her words sending sparks through him at the mention of Lydia's feelings for him. She still loved him. Although he'd been the one to walk away, deep down he'd assumed she had never truly loved him and it had only been a part of Peter's plan. But that wasn't true.

"Sometimes, my talent gives me mental pictures of people or objects others think strongly about, and let me tell you, your mind was broadcasting images of her like the six o'clock news."

Growling at his own stupidity which had opened up a danger zone for Lydia, he clenched the phone again but forced himself to control his anger this time.

"Before you ask: I want the same thing I wanted before," Eve continued relentlessly. "You help me kill Adrian, and I spare the life of your mate. Werewolves do mate for life, or so I'm told." She smiled, and Lydia closed her eyes to hold back the tears that were already spilling onto her cheeks.

Derek clenched his teeth, "Unlike vampires, apparently."

"Touché," Eve answered with an amused grin. "So we have a deal? Or should we see if your little girlfriend is as immune to a vampire as to a werewolf?"

He sucked in a long, low breath, his thoughts on Lydia and nothing else. He no longer cared about himself; he could only think about her safety. If he disagreed to the Vampire Queen's demands, he would either be killed by her or Adrian, or Eve would destroy the only woman he loved: Lydia.

"We have a deal."

With a satisfied nod, Eve snapped her cellphone closed and appraised Lydia who looked up at her, mustering up her resolve to gaze strongly at the woman she now knew to be a vampire. "Derek was wise to comply with my wishes." She glanced down at the pregnant belly Lydia covered with her hands, hugging her arms to herself protectively. "I imagine he knows nothing about this?" she asked, nodding her head toward Lydia's stomach.

"No," she replied simply, refusing to explain. The explanation was too painful for her to dredge up; she didn't know if she could add details even if she wanted.

Raising an eyebrow, Eve smiled a half-smile to herself and nodded. "So it shall stay that way. I do appreciate a well-timed revelation."

She moved like a blur, and suddenly she was in Lydia's face, her eyes red and veins snaking out in demonic halos around them. Sucking in a surprised, frightened gasp, Lydia gripped the bed to keep from falling backward in shock. "Keep yourself safe now, Lydia," Eve hissed, her face pleasant but her tone vicious. "I have a feeling Derek will prove very... cooperative as long as you're alive, and this," she brushed her hand over Lydia's belly and the redhead winced, glaring angrily up at the vampire with no fear now that her maternal protection instincts had kicked in, "This will prove very valuable information for the future. Ta ta for now, my dear."

With that, she released Lydia and was gone in a flash, nothing remaining of her presence but the slight fluttering of the curtains over the open window to Lydia's bedroom. The girl collapsed back on the bed, curling into the fetal position and cradling her swollen belly in her arms as she began to cry until she fell asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Thoughts of the vampire in her room ran through Lydia's mind throughout the next day. The sheer fact that she was a vampire - something Lydia hadn't thought existed although it made sense considering the sheer population of werewolves in Beacon Hills - and she got the sense Eve was older than she looked. Much older. The way she carried herself, the confidence in her voice when she talked over the phone to Derek - one of the most intimidating people Lydia had ever met - as if he was a child, it all went to explain Eve was more than she let on. Lydia felt hopelessly useless without all of the facts, and the vampiress's calm promise that she would hurt Lydia if Derek didn't comply was plaguing the back of her mind.

Then there was Derek. Hearing his voice on the phone last night, for however short a period of time, had been so wonderful. His gruff voice, asking her if she was okay, and the brief tone of emotion she'd heard when he'd said her name. She'd been so overcome in the moment she hadn't examined it much, but she'd been thinking about it ceaselessly since she'd awoken that morning. She didn't dare hope he still loved her - she had hurt him too badly to allow herself the benefit of believing he could forgive her - but she wouldn't hide how desperately she still loved him.

But if he wanted her to move on and leave him alone, she would. She would do anything for him.

Looking down at her belly, she ran her hands gently over its round surface, smiling slightly as she felt the baby kick at her palms. A happy tear rolled out of her eye and she rose to gather her things to go to school.

Opening the front door to her house, she stepped back in surprise when Stiles appeared on the front step.

"Stiles! What are you doing here?" she asked, looking at the time and realizing they only had thirty minutes until school started.

He glanced at her in that characteristically high-spirited way of his, his eyes flitting to her belly where her hands still subconsciously lay, perfectly outlining her pregnancy. She felt her cheeks grow red, knowing he already knew when he looked back up at her, that pain in his eyes she'd hoped never to see.

"I heard..." he began, forcing a smile and shifting his weight. "I..."

He shook his head, looking away from her and gathering himself so he could continue. When he looked back at her, there was a flash of sadness over his brown eyes. "Why didn't you just tell me?"

She knew this would happen; she'd been trying to avoid it. "I didn't want to hurt you. I knew how you felt about me, and I thought..."

"You thought wrong," he corrected her, gently. "We're friends, Lydia. Friends first. Just because I've been enamored with you since third grade doesn't mean we're not friends. You didn't tell me because you thought I wouldn't be able to handle it, and that hurts worse than not knowing."

"I didn't think you wouldn't be able to handle it," she countered, defensively, "I didn't _want_ you to have to handle it. It's my problem! And, yes, I knew you knowing would only hurt you. I can't hurt anyone anymore than I already have."

Stiles shook his head, pursing his lips in exasperation. He paused for a moment before answering her. "You don't love me, and you won't. I get it. I'm okay with that. I'm a big boy, and I'm moving on. But I'm still your friend." His brown eyes were sincere, watching her like the sweet puppy dog he was.

"I do love you, Stiles, just not like _that_. You're a support system I don't deserve," she answered honestly, her pregnancy hormones making her sappy and tearful as she looked up at him. She honestly did care about him, and sometimes she thought he was a much better friend to her than Allison was.

"I don't want you to love me like that, Lydia. It's not how you feel, and it wouldn't be you. I want you the way you are. I just want you to trust me enough, to respect me enough, to know you can tell me anything without hurting my feelings," he responded truthfully.

Her bottom lip quivered and she reached out, grabbing him in a hug and holding him close to her. His arms wrapped around her, engulfing her in his safety net. She was so thankful for such a sincere friend, she couldn't put it into words so she just hugged him there on her front porch.

"I don't know what I did to deserve a friend like you," she whispered fervently as she finally released him. Stiles smiled and shrugged cutely.

"A strong woman needs strong friends, right?" he asked with a grin.

"I'm not a strong woman, Stiles," she argued, closing the door behind her and walking with him toward his Jeep which was parked on the curb in front of her house.

"You don't give yourself enough credit," he countered, stuffing his hands in his pockets and walking along beside her. There was a moment of silence as they walked toward the road before Stiles cleared his throat and came to a stop at the passenger-side door of his car. "It's Derek's, isn't it?"

The question was so out-of-nowhere, so intuitive, it took her aback for a moment before she looked up at him. His eyes were so forgiving, so open and honest, she couldn't lie to him.

"Yes."

He nodded and smiled slightly. "How did you know?" she asked.

"The way he was hanging around the hospital after what happened with Peter and Gerard... that was me two years ago after Peter bit you," he answered with a knowing smile. Lydia nodded, smiling shyly and looked down at the ground.

"He doesn't know... about the baby," she confided, venturing a look back at him.

"Why didn't you tell him?"

"I didn't know I was pregnant at the time. I found out after he was already gone," she answered, shaking her head. "He hates me for what I did."

"He doesn't hate you," Stiles argued, opening the door and offering her a ride to school, "And if he does, then he's stupid. You didn't do what Peter wanted you to do. His ego was just bruised, and he hates Peter, so he saw what he wanted to see."

She nodded as she settled herself into the passenger's seat, her fingers intertwining in her lap. "I don't blame him. I went to him with the intention to do what Peter asked, it's just... things changed."

The Jeep revved to life and they began down the road toward school. "He needs to know about the baby. If he knew, he'd have to come back."

Lydia looked out the window, lost in her thoughts about the vampire who had been in her bedroom the night before. "It's more complicated than that." Stiles didn't argue and they continued the ride in comfortable silence. "Much more complicated than that," she muttered to herself.

* * *

Eve glided into the dark warehouse where she'd last seen her husband fighting the werewolf, Derek Hale. Adrian was stubborn and ancient, too set in his archaic ways to understand how he was going to hurt everyone around him - including himself - if he got what he wanted. Her leather jacket creaked as she came to a stop and examined the wall, then the floor where Derek's claws had scratched the pavement in five long gashes. She'd seen the encounter from afar, but after visiting Beacon Hills and investigating the werewolf's network of friends who flitted through his mind on occasion, she imagined Derek had not seen Adrian's face clearly. If he had, he certainly would be reacting differently toward the vampire czar. The idea made her smile, for she loved irony.

She also loved the minds of werewolves. Overall, werewolves were much more hotblooded than vampires, and their emotions made up eighty percent of their personalities. She felt Derek was driven mostly by anger, and largely by his deep love for the girl Lydia, whereas the beta who'd been accompanying him was driven by something else entirely. He was driven by a desire to prove himself and a deeply-laden sadness that managed not to affect him, but to stir him to action. She admired the emotions of werewolves, since her own kind were capable of closing off their humanity entirely until they felt nothing but physical sensations like pain and pleasure. Due to her empathetic link with vampires, thanks to her connection to them as their 'mother', she could still sense their thoughts through the few emotions they retained, but vibrant emotions were much more entertaining.

As she came to a halt in the center of the warehouse, she felt his red hot rage before she ever saw him with her eyes. Derek lunged for her, followed closely by his ever-loyal beta, Isaac, and she allowed them to believe they'd caught her off-guard, pinning her to the same wall where Adrian had held Derek.

"I will kill you for messing with her, you bitch," Derek hissed, his claws tightening around her slender neck, his alpha eyes burning red as his fangs snapped in her face. She was admittedly fearful of his bite - it was the only thing that could kill her - but she didn't show it. Instead, she smiled benignly at him, feeling his anger spike at her nonchalance.

"My, my, aren't we caustic today?" she asked pleasantly. Derek growled at her, those deadly teeth holding her attention. "There's no need for a powerplay here, Derek. We're allies, remember?"

"I believe that was before you threatened to kill her," he snapped viciously. Eve smiled knowingly.

"So you do still love her... good. I think she's worried about it, to be honest," she replied simply, constantly catching him off-guard by her lack of fear of him. "Now, let me go so we can talk like the adults we are."

With an irritated growl, the werewolves reluctantly released her and she slid down the wall to land on her feet, straightening her clothing as they transformed into their human selves.

"If you remain so consumed by your feelings for the girl, you're going to ruin everything," Eve chided, her eyes flashing dangerously. "You have to remember that your white hot rage can only burn for so long after you lose her, and after that, you will fall. It's what your enemies count on. Revenge only drives _you_ mad in the end."

His jaw set firmly and he planted his feet as he watched her, Isaac at his side. A toxic blend of rage and worry billowed off of the alpha werewolf, flashing through her mind like a powerful drug. Shaking her head slightly, she frowned at the black-haired man.

"She's quite capable of handling herself, you know," she commented.

"I'm aware," Derek responded hotly, his inner turmoil over Lydia still raging within him.

"I doubt that you do," Eve contested. Derek's brow furrowed ever so slightly, and she smiled brilliantly, amused by the whole situation. The human girl the werewolf had fallen in love with, the pregnancy he knew nothing about because he'd run when he believed she'd betrayed him... the irony of it all entertained her like it was her own personal movie.

"You still have no idea what she is, do you?" she asked, watching in delight as confusion passed over his face.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, "Lydia is human."

"She's immune to supernatural creatures," Isaac added, intrigued by the direction of this conversation as any teenager would be. Eve smiled like a proud teacher and nodded, rolling her hand, gesturing for them to continue.

"Yes, she is all of those things," she amended, "Yet she isn't. She is immune to supernatural creatures... because she is one."

Derek's eyes flashed at the statement, and he shook his head almost immediately. "Jackson wasn't immune to the kanima's poison, and he was a supernatural creature. He _was_ the kanima!" he argued.

Shaking her finger in the air, Eve continued, "Technically, Jackson was a werewolf, he simply hadn't transitioned correctly. Therefore, he was caught in a stasis between the natural and the supernatural, causing him to be susceptible to his own venom. Often, a person's worst enemy is himself."

Isaac nodded, thinking about his own father and Derek narrowed his eyes at the vampire queen.

"How can you know more about us and the people around us than we do?" he asked suspiciously.

Eve rolled her eyes, "How many times do I have to repeat myself? Your emotions give me images, those images offer me your memories. It's not reading your mind, per se, but reading your emotions. Feelings often give more away than even your thoughts could. Memories are often incorrect, for we remember things in our own point-of-view and they remain subjective. Emotions, however, are similar among all living things and, therefore, universal.

When you think of Lydia, you feel your love for her and your guilt at feeling that love, and that in turn forms a picture of who she is in your mind. That outline is formed through those feelings, making her a figment in your life as much as seeing her in the flesh would. It's much like a blind person reading braille, that person doesn't see the letters, but they feel them, and that makes them come to life in the mind's eye."

Derek nodded, understanding - finally - the way she explained it. The idea spooked him because he didn't like the vampire being able to read his thoughts through his emotions, but he also recognized her as a valuable ally. However, he wasn't interested so much in her abilities as to how Eve could know more about Lydia than he did. He'd been intimate with her, they'd slept together multiple times and he'd spent every moment he could with her since they'd confessed their love for one another. The memories still stung following Peter's revelation of his 'plan', but he still doubted how this vampire queen could know more about the girl in his head than he did.

Eve sighed, no doubt reading his emotions once more and sensing his remaining doubt. She fixed him with the reproachful look a teacher would give an unruly student.

"Think about it, Derek. Honestly _think_," she urged him, impatiently. "I saw it myself when I visited her, Lydia is a very... magnetic person. When she enters a room, you find yourself drawn to her. It's innocent, for she doesn't know she's doing it. Everyone feels an inexplicable pull in her presence."

He knew it was true. His draw to her hadn't always been so strong, initially, but since he'd fallen in love with her it was like a giant magnet was trying to drag him back to Beacon Hills. Hearing her voice on the phone the other night had only made it worse.

"She's the most popular girl in school," Eve continued inexorably, numbering the facts on one hand, "Her friends love her. You, the werewolf with the black heart, love her. Take that boy, Stiles for example. He's been in love with her since childhood, basically, and he can't explain why. I'm sure he wouldn't be able to put it into words, but he feels this pull toward her. Even if she didn't love him back, he would still want to be there for her simply because he has to, he wants to."

She'd pulled Stiles out of his head just as easily as Lydia, and Jackson, and probably Isaac, Scott, and the others as well. She had also spent more time in Beacon Hills than she let on because he knew she couldn't know Stiles's innermost affections for Lydia from his limited knowledge on the topic. Imagining her lurking outside the homes of the people he'd vowed inwardly to protect irked him, but he continued listening to her.

"Of course, his emotions, as with yours, are entirely freewill; she doesn't demand your love from you or manipulate it. At this point in her development, she is merely an appeal, someone people feel good being around."

He didn't know if Eve had read the betrayal he felt in his heart or not, but her words about Lydia not manipulating his love struck him deeply. Since finding out Peter had used her to get to him, he'd felt that his desire for her had been plied out of him, but it hadn't. He knew that the moment he'd heard Lydia's voice and heard the desperate tone in her few words. He'd known then, and he knew now, she honestly loved him. He'd been so consumed in his hatred for his uncle and jumping to the conclusion that another woman would simply twist her way into his love life as Kate had done, he hadn't been willing to see that Lydia was not Kate. Essentially, against her own intentions, she had fallen for him and she'd fought those feelings because she knew Peter would prey on them. But she hadn't been able to resist him anymore than he'd been able to resist her, and they'd fallen right into Peter's trap, making it even more powerful than even his uncle had imagined it could be. Lydia's love had been the key to bury them both, and Derek reeled at how much of an ass he'd been.

While he'd been blaming himself for being stupid enough to fall into Peter's snare, he'd incidentally blamed Lydia as well, and it wasn't her fault. The fault didn't land on either of them for having pure love for one another. It fell on Peter for poisoning that love and turning it into something impure, breaking both their hearts and driving them apart. Derek had fallen for Peter's plan even worse than he'd imagined by leaving Beacon Hills. He had removed himself from the one thing that actually made him stronger, not weaker. Peter had convinced him - by leading him to believe Lydia never loved him and had only been using him - that his love for her made him weak, but that wasn't true. His love for her made him whole.

Eve stopped in her explanation, smiling as she sensed the realizations sweeping through Derek's mind. "I have known your uncle for quite some time," the vampire intoned, "And I don't believe even he knows exactly what he stumbled upon with Lydia."

Derek came out of his thoughts, his soul feeling lifted and refreshed for the first time in months, and he looked at her with a blank look as she persisted.

"She's so much more valuable than even Peter knew," she remarked, her eyes flashing as if she'd caught sight of the most precious jewel in the world. She set her gaze back on Derek, falling back into the teaching role once more. "Just think, Derek. You already know: her magnetism, her immunity, all of it. You know what she is, you just haven't been able to put it all together until now."

He thought for a moment, and suddenly, it all came together in his head and his eyes widened as he looked across at the vampire queen. "Succubus."

Eve nodded approvingly, "How right you are."

"A succubus?" Isaac asked, confusedly. "But don't they do something like, sleep with men and kill them or something?"

"There is much lore surrounding succubi," Derek agreed, glancing over at his beta. "They're supernatural creatures known to be beautiful and sexually appealing, and yes, they're fabled to be deadly. It's even been said that a man would die if he slept with a succubus multiple times, like she would simply draw the life right out of him."

If that was true, he was screwed, in more ways than one.

Eve smiled, "Thankfully, you're a werewolf, and no regular man, right, Derek?"

Derek glared up at her as she chuckled amusedly, and Isaac fixed him with a raised-eyebrow smile. "Wait...You and..._Lydia..._?"

"Yes, me and Lydia," he snapped hastily, not wishing to go into details. Eve chuckled to herself, crossing her arms over her chest as Isaac went silent, running this new-found information around in his head.

"I'd say that's probably the understatement of the year," she commented underhandedly, but when the statement piqued Derek's attention, she hurriedly moved on. "The draw of a succubus is minimal at best usually. However, if the succubus loves someone, and especially if that someone loves her in return, the pull becomes a physical thing, practically unavoidable. This is obviously what made Jackson so unwilling to let her go - since she had loved him once and he still loved her when she realized her feelings for you, Derek - he was still drawn to her by his feelings even though she'd moved on. The only person I've ever seen with an immunity to a succubus is that boy Scott." Eve rolled her eyes at his name. "That boy is so... _addicted_ to that girl Allison, it renders him a blank slate to the rest of the world."

Derek nodded, knowing exactly what Eve meant without having to read Scott's mind. The boy's attraction to the Argent girl had personally threatened his own life on more than one occasion.

"Lydia is merely a fledgling succubus, but she could prove very valuable to our efforts."

Derek instantly shook his head, throwing out his hand in a refusing gesture. "No. She's not going to be involved in this. I couldn't..." His words trailed off and he swallowed heavily.

"Your loyalty never ceases to astound me," Eve commented honestly, shifting her weight. "But you need to talk to her. Your love, and guilt, associated with her will interfere with our plans to kill Adrian, and that can't happen. Whether it means returning to Beacon Hills or calling her on the phone, you have many things to talk about." She raised her eyebrows pointedly. He wondered why she was so insistent on something he thought she would find as trivial as love - something she was obviously lacking in her marriage to the vampire king. Even so, he knew she was right. He had to speak to Lydia and apologize to her and pray she could forgive him. His soul couldn't take much more of denying himself her presence.


	6. Chapter 6

Rolling onto her back, she looked up into his blue eyes as they turned red, a smile crossing her face. She was thin again, not five months pregnant, and he was here. Derek was actually here. He gently caressed the side of her face, watching his fingers touch her porcelain skin, and the moonlight glinted off of his wolf eyes. The grass was soft beneath her back, and the night breeze blew over them both as they lay in their secret spot deep in the forest surrounding Beacon Hills.

"I've missed you," she whispered, her lips brushing his as he teased her, refusing to kiss her and making her want it even more.

"I never left," his gruff voice answered, his brow drawing down slightly.

He leaned down, finally kissing her and sending rolling waves of heat through her body at his touch. His fingers ran down her side, slipping into her underwear and petting her until she gasped with pleasure. Throwing her head back as vibrations of bliss radiated through her from her waist, she moaned and looked into his heated gaze. She kissed him, her body thrilling from the feel of him, and she pushed her underwear down, opening herself to him as she had so many times before. He was inside of her before she could beg him, and she cried out, indulging in every inch of him. They moved as one, pressing the cool grass down around them as sweat beaded on their bodies. She began to climax...

And she woke up with a gasp, clutching the blankets around her petite frame. _Damn pregnancy hormones_, she thought to herself with a disappointed frown_. _If she couldn't have Derek in her real life, couldn't she just have one night with him in her dreams?

Her eyes flitted open, and she rolled over, the blankets gathered around her in a heap as she'd tossed and turned during her erotic dream. A dark silhouette crowded the window, and she instantly recognized him. She must still be dreaming. Derek wasn't here.

She didn't fully believe she was awake until he shifted, standing from the windowsill and gliding to her bedside, sitting next to her. Dragging herself up onto one elbow, she reached for him, still not able to comprehend how he could be here. He hated her. Only her dreams allowed her to have him again, and even then it was short-lived and unsatisfying.

"Derek...?" she asked, her hand going toward his face and touching the familiar stubble on his cheek. "It's you... it's really you." Her throat tightened with emotion, and she felt tears of happiness forming in her eyes.

"It's really me," he replied in his rough voice, smiling slightly.

"Oh, Derek!" she exclaimed in a whisper, reaching for him. She dove into his arms, and he hugged her against his chest, planting a soft kiss on the top of her mussed hair. She could stay like this forever and never let him go. She didn't even want to ask him why he'd left, or why he'd returned, she just wanted to smell his familiar scent and feel his arms around her.

"Lydia... I'm so sorry," he apologized finally, gently pushing her away so he could look into her eyes. Oh, how he had missed those green eyes. A tear rolled down her cheek, and he brushed it away with his thumb, his heart breaking to see her cry.

"I know why you left; you don't have to be sorry," she whispered fervently, her hands caressing his face as if she was still proving to herself that he was real and not a figment of her imagination.

"I know, I know," he soothed her, pulling her to him once more and kissing her this time. It was a sweet, fervent kiss, and she melted into his arms. The feel of her against him, the sound of her heartbeat rapid and excited in his ears, it was all more than he could have wished for. Releasing her lips and resting his forehead against hers, he sighed.

"Why don't you hate me?" he asked honestly, opening his eyes and looking into hers. Lydia smiled a small, sweet smile, her hand grabbing his and squeezing slightly.

"Because I love you more than anything. I never pretended to love you; it's been real from the beginning. Even if you never came back, I would never love another man the way I love you," was her honest reply.

"I was an asshole," he remarked. Lydia chuckled and shook her head. "You were hurt; I hurt you."

Shaking his head, he took her face in his hands and fixed her with a penetrating gaze. "No, you didn't hurt me. It was Peter: he hurt both of us and made us think we shouldn't be together. But that's not true. I can't live without you."

She smiled a brilliant smile, her face illuminated by the moonlight and glowing beautifully. "You're so beautiful," he whispered, brushing her strawberry blond hair out of her face. She blushed slightly and rested her small hand over his, her fingers lacing through his as he touched her.

"There's something I have to tell you," she murmured, looking down at the blankets in her lap. He frowned worriedly, touching her chin with his finger so she turned to look back up at him.

"Is everything alright?"

She released a breath and smiled, nodding earnestly. "It's better than alright."

Taking his hand in her own, she turned his hand so his palm ran down her body, pushing aside the sheets. His hand ran over her smooth stomach as it gently sloped away from her chest, and his eyes widened with realization. As his palm ran over her belly, he felt movement and a tiny kick hit him. Not believing it, he gently pushed aside the blankets pooled in her lap and looked wide-eyed at her pregnant belly before looking back into her watchful eyes.

She watched him warily, unsure how he would react to the news. "You're going to be a father." Her voice was small and timid as if she thought he would be angry.

"Lydia..." he managed, his voice thick with emotion as he grabbed her and kissed her passionately on her lips before hugging her tightly against him. "I couldn't be happier."

She laughed nervously, tears of relief leaving her eyes as she twisted to look up at him. "Really? I didn't know how you would react."

"Are you kidding?" Derek asked incredulously, chuckling. "I love you, and I couldn't have imagined a more perfect thing to come home to."

Sighing cheerfully, she laid her head on his chest, her stomach glowing silver in the moonlight. His hand ran gently over her soft skin, and the baby kicked him again, warranting a giggle from Lydia. "She likes you."

"She, hmm?" he asked, jokingly. She shrugged and smiled, biting her bottom lip.

"Maybe not, but for some reason I think it's a girl."

"Well, if it is a girl, then she'll be as beautiful and strong as her mother," he replied, kissing her forehead.

They sat in silence for a while, and Lydia wished they could stay this way forever. She felt whole again, and she wanted nothing more than to be with him for the rest of her life. However, she knew the vampire Eve had mentioned a deal he must make with her, and she sat up finally to look at him.

"Did you do what Eve wanted you to do?" she asked, her brow drawing down in concentration.

Derek sighed and shook his head. "Not yet. She has some plan that she won't tell me. Isaac is with her now, waiting until I get back."

"So you can't stay..." she commented, a statement more than a question. Her hand squeezed his, and he gently squeezed hers in return.

"I'll be back as soon as Adrian is taken care of," he answered honestly, running his fingers through her moonlight-streaked hair. "I don't want to leave... especially now that I know..." He glanced down at her pregnant belly, his forehead resting against hers.

"I'll be fine. You have to do what you have to do," she answered strongly, offering him a smile. She was so strong, he didn't know how he'd been lucky enough to gain her love.

"There's something I need to tell you too," he spoke, shifting his weight and pulling her up into his arms where she rested her head against his shoulder. She didn't question him but allowed him to explain. He tried to find the words to tell her the one truth he was afraid to admit. He didn't want her drug into the supernatural world any more than necessary, but she had to know, and he wanted to be the one to tell her.

"Eve figured out why you were immune to Peter's bite," he began, sensing he caught her attention as she stiffened slightly in his arms but allowed him to continue. "You couldn't be turned into a werewolf because you're already a succubus."

She sucked in a breath, and he knew she was intelligent enough to know what a succubus was without having to ask him. Sitting up, her eyes widened in surprise, she finally turned to look at him, her mouth hanging open slightly. "But don't succubi kill..."

She paused and her innocent green eyes widened once more in horror. "I could have killed you!" she exclaimed, her hands going to his shirt to grasp at him before she released him as if she'd burnt him. "I... how... No, I don't want to hurt you anymore. What if I somehow drained the life out of you or something? Derek, I-"

"Shhh," he soothed her, placing a finger over her mouth to stop her rambling. "I'm a werewolf. You can't kill me. Besides, it would've been self-inflicted if you had." He winked at her, and she giggled nervously as he gathered her in his arms in a comforting embrace.

"A succubus..." she repeated quietly.

"It's why it actually hurts me to be away from you," he continued, "Because I love you, and you love me, so the desire to be near you is stronger."

She nodded, reaching back and running her fingers down his powerful bicep. Turning her head to the side, she looked up at him with a coy smile on her pink lips. "So if I did something like this..." she leaned her head back and kissed him, gently at first then harder until it took his breath away. She pulled back only when she needed a breath and looked at him with that smoldering gaze, "...then it wouldn't hurt you."

Shaking his head and swallowing, a small grin passing his lips. "Not at all."

Turning in his arms, she draped her legs over his lap, straddling him, her hands removing the leather jacket he wore over his broad shoulders. Taking his stubbly face in her hands, his hands going to her thighs and grabbing her ass. "Then this wouldn't hurt either?" Leaning over, she kissed him again, this time hotly and passionately. He fell back onto his back on the bed, his fingers digging into her soft skin and shifting her thighs so her legs surrounded him. She pulled up her nightgown so nothing separated them except his jeans, and soon those were gone as well.

"Not even a little bit," he growled lustily with a smile. She returned the smile and continued kissing him, losing herself in his lips and his arms. Their skin brushed, stuck together, and their fingers raked at the remaining articles of clothing until there was nothing between them but moonlight. Her body burned from his touch and from wanting him, and she moaned in her throat as he thrust into her. She didn't care about anything but the two of them now as he took her for the first time in months.

The feel of him within her was ecstasy, heightened by the elevated hormones coursing through her system, and she buried her head into his neck as she cried out in release. His arms hugged her to him as she whined in pleasure, the last throes of orgasm rolling off of her until she could breathe once more.

Rolling onto her back, she sighed and looked over at him with her big doe eyes, smiling shyly as her fingers ran down the side of his face. Derek leaned on one elbow and smiled adoringly down at her, kissing her jaw as she smiled, pleased.

"I don't want to leave you," he whispered heavily, breathing in deeply the sweet aroma of her hair and skin.

"I'll be here when you get back," she promised, gazing lovingly into his eyes as he sat up and looked at her. She kissed him sweetly, running her small hands down the sides of his rough face and sighing happily. "I will always be yours."

"Werewolves mate for life," he commented with a small grin.

"And so do I," she replied, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him into a kiss.


	7. Chapter 7

Lydia thanked the powers-that-be that it was the weekend as the sunlight pouring through her window awoke her to Derek's arms. Smiling pleasedly, she nestled closer to him, seeing his lips curl upward in a grin of his own. She watched him with her green eyes as he gradually woke up, blinking in the bright sunlight.

"Good morning, Handsome," she whispered, leaning over to kiss his cheek. He squeezed her tightly to him as she tried to move away, holding her against him so she couldn't fight him. She giggled as he kissed her, running a hand into her red hair. When he finally released her, he smiled. "Good morning, Beautiful."

She felt as if she would never stop smiling as she sat back, shifting her weight so she could sit up in the bed, her hand running over his chiseled chest. Remembering they couldn't stay this way forever brought a shadow over her face that Derek noticed immediately.

"What's wrong?"

"You have to leave, and I'm going to miss you," she admitted, offering him a sad smile. His hand rested on her knee and he sighed.

"I don't have to. I can just tell Eve to go screw herself and find someone else to do her dirty work-"

Lydia shook her head, "No, no. She's right to trust you."

She caressed the side of his face and smiled at him, the sunlight illuminating her strawberry blond hair in a glowing halo around her round face. "Besides, Stiles already offered to babysit the baby after it's born, so I think I'll be in good hands." She giggled as Derek frowned playfully.

"Stiles is not touching my child," he joked as she giggled, "He'd probably end up destroying your whole house in the process of trying to change a diaper."

Lydia nodded and laughed, her arm naturally going around his shoulders as he sat up in the bed, resting her chin on the top of his head. His hand rested on her belly and the baby instantly shifted as if it sensed its father. Derek smiled to himself.

"I promise I won't be gone any longer than necessary," he whispered, drawing circles on her belly with his index finger. "I'm not going to miss any more of this than I already have."

Lydia brushed down his black hair with her hand and smiled to herself happily. "I want to help."

Derek instantly shook his head and sat up so he was looking at her. "I don't want you getting in the middle of any of this. I... wouldn't be able to live with myself if anything happened to you, or to our baby."

Gently, she rested a hand on the side of his face and he closed his eyes, leaning in to her touch. "I know. I don't intend to throw myself right into the middle of the battlefield or something. I just want to help however I can. We're a team, we're stronger when we work together. And I can't sit around here imagining up horrible things that may have happened to you."

He smiled reassuringly and kissed her lightly on her full lips. "I promise to include you if it comes down to that, but you have to promise me that you'll keep yourself safe."

She nodded earnestly, her eyes bright and teeming with emotion. "I love you, and I promise."

"I love you too," he replied with another tender kiss on her lips.

* * *

Leaping out of her window and to the ground was as easy as swinging on a swing for him. The hard part was actually leaving her. Turning back to look at her when he reached the treeline, he felt his heart tearing out of his chest as he watched her blow him a kiss and subconsciously cradle her pregnant belly. He was a father. Lydia was his mate. She loved him, and he loved her. His life was essentially perfect.

When he was able to muster enough strength to turn away, he turned and shifted almost instantly, using his wolf form to help himself focus on the task at hand instead of how desperately he desired to be back in her bed making love to her and holding her for the rest of his life.

* * *

Shifting out of his wolf state as he crossed the border into the Appalachian Mountains, Derek shook himself and sniffed the air. Instantly, he smelled that metallic scent of vampires intermingled with the familiar scent of his beta, Isaac.

"That didn't take long," Eve chimed, turning to face him as he entered the clearing where she stood with Isaac, reviewing maps of the compound Adrian had established as his base of operations.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked her immediately. She smiled knowingly as Isaac watched the interchange with curious confusion.

"That wasn't for me to tell," she replied coolly, turning her back to him and rolling up the map.

Derek nodded in reluctant agreement, glad she hadn't told him Lydia was pregnant. It was more special that he'd heard it from the lips of the woman he loved.

"Now, come. There's something you must see."

He followed her easily with Isaac at his side as they raced at breakneck speed through the dense forest. Only werewolves and vampires could possibly travel in such a manner without impaling themselves on a tree or colliding with the landscape, but they did it without effort. They traveled miles in mere minutes, finally slowing when they neared the massive compound nestled into one of the many valleys in the Appalachian Mountain chain. Eve laid out the map on the ground and glided to the top of the hill they had chosen for its vantage point.

Pointing at the sprawling camp below, she began, "Adrian's not stupid, and he chose this place for a reason. It was once an old Army training camp during the World Wars, and in addition to its expanse above ground, there is an intricate network of tunnels running throughout the mountainside offering escape routes and easy travel for those accustomed to them.

Unfortunately for us, every vampire here is capable of traveling those tunnels within seconds, and we're quite unpracticed in them. That's no matter, however, as long as we can block the main arteries and prevent them from escaping in such a way."

Derek nodded, agreeing the plan wasn't a bad one. If they could trap the vampires into the buildings and prevent them from fleeing through the tunnels, they could greatly increase their chances of success. The faster the news of the attack on their king could travel, the more danger would come upon the attackers. The last thing Derek wanted was vampires from all around the world flocking to kill him personally for murdering their sovereign.

"I've already reviewed the maps and we've decided the best holes to block are these," Isaac added, pinpointing three major tunnels with red x's on the map.

"That leaves you and me to infiltrate the complex on the ground level," Eve intoned.

"And us," came a familiar voice from the treeline. Emerging from the evergreens were Erica, Boyd, and Jackson, the remaining betas in Derek's pack. Although he was relieved to see them, Derek couldn't deny the tension between him and his newest beta as the unnaturally attractive young man stepped up beside his new packmates. Jackson glanced over at him and nodded. Derek returned the nod and knew they had an understanding. It was one of those subtle understandings that only men can share, but Derek knew Lydia would not be an issue between the two of them.

Eve wrinkled her nose, the smell of werewolves as distasteful to her as the smell of vampires was to them, and she planted her feet as her eyebrows raised appraisingly. "I assume this is the rest of your pack?" She stated the sentence more than asked, and Derek merely nodded. "Very well," she commented, inspecting each of them individually and smiling appreciatively when she was done. She turned her blue-eyed gaze back on Derek and continued with her pitch.

"There is one last, rather important, detail you must be aware of before we attempt this endeavor," she commented, beckoning him to her side. Pulling a petite pair of binoculars out of the back of her jeans, she held them up to her eyes, found what she was looking for and then handed them to Derek. Pointing toward the center of the compound, she ordered him to look to what she indicated.

"Adrian himself," she mentioned dramatically as he combed the teeming crowds of vampires, searching for the one who drew their attention. "I don't believe you've gotten a good look at him before now?"

"No, his face was in shadow when he attacked me, and then he was gone too fast for me to catch him," Derek conceded.

Firmly gripping his shoulders with one hand, she turned his body and face so the binoculars were directed at the king of the vampires. "I thought so," she remarked as his view landed on the vampire.

He sucked in a breath so fast he dropped the binoculars and his eyes widened in shock as he turned to look at her. "How... That's not possible..."

Eve smiled knowingly, crossing her arms over her chest calmly as the alpha werewolf's jaw fell open in disbelief. He hastily raised the binoculars to his eyes once more to get another view, not believing his own eyes.

"What? What is it, Derek?" asked Erica from behind him. It took him a moment to find his voice before he stood and faced them, shaken by the sight.

"Stiles..." he managed, swallowing so he could continue, "Adrian looks identical to Stiles."

* * *

"How is that even possible?" Jackson echoed Derek as the betas moved to the crest of the hill to peer down at the lead vampire.

"Haven't you ever heard of a doppelganger?" Eve asked, a tone of impatience in her voice. "Basically, two people are identical in every physical way, hence making one of them the doppelganger for the other. In this case, it would seem your friend Stiles is a doppelganger for my murderous husband."

Derek lowered the binoculars from his eyes and cast her a dark look. "Yet another important fact you've neglected to enlighten us with until the last minute."

Eve shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest. "You have to give a girl a little credit. It took me a while to recover after I saw your little human Stiles and thought, for a moment, Adrian had managed to follow me to Beacon Hills. He's just lucky I didn't tear his head off right then."

Erica bared her teeth at the vampire queen (she'd had a not-so-secretive crush on Stiles for quite some time), eliciting an amused smile from Eve. Derek glared at Erica, his eyes telling her to tone it down, and she backed down but continued scowling hatefully at the other woman.

"Thank you for your magnanimity," Derek retorted facetiously. "I'm sure Stiles would appreciate the fact you decided to spare his life despite his unfortunate and unintentional resemblance to your husband."

Eve shrugged noncommittally and turned to look down the hill toward the compound where her 'children' cloistered around their liege like moths to a flame. "Adrian has no weakness," she commented, seemingly off-topic but she continued unabated.

"Until I found Stiles, I didn't think he could be killed. But now," she turned and faced Derek, a genuine emotion - hope - showing in her eyes for the first time since he'd met her, "The power a doppelganger has over his supernatural counterpart is typically very powerful indeed."

Derek shook his head and glared at her. "I already told you I don't want to drag any more people into this than are already messed up in it. It's bad enough you've managed to enlist my entire pack to help you with this, but I won't have your putting our human friends in danger either."

His mind flitted naturally to Lydia, although she wasn't technically human, and an ache gripped his heart. He could see her clearly in his mind's eye: her smooth belly, the feel of their child kicking the palm of his hand. Stiles was his friend, and he had his own father who cared about him. Lydia cared about him. Now that Derek was a father himself, the idea of someone losing their child struck him heavier than it would have in times-past.

Eve rolled her eyes, feeling the wave of his emotions pouring off of him. "You werewolves are so... loyal. It's irritating."

"And vampires are untrustworthy and duplicitous," Derek barked angrily. The vampire queen didn't flinch as his anger hit her. Instead, she fixed him with a penetrating gaze.

"However true that may be, at least we don't pass up a worthwhile opportunity for true victory simply because we wish to make others' choices for them," she snapped. "Is it not your friend Stiles's choice whether he would like to participate or not?"

Derek clenched his jaw and glanced away from her, his gaze resting on his four betas. Each of them watched him, prepared to support his decision no matter what it may be. Each of them had grown up with Stiles, gone to school with him and sat next to him in class since elementary school. They may not be close to him, but they knew him.

Varying degrees of concern crossed each of their faces, but each of them sent him one simple message: It was Stiles's choice, not his.

"What exactly is your plan to use Stiles?" Derek asked stubbornly.

"While the plan to block the tunnels was a good one," Eve amended, nodding at Isaac who shrugged nonchalantly, "Luring Adrian away from the herd will be much more effective."

"So you're going to get him to leave this place and come to Beacon Hills?" Derek asked, mild exasperation in his tone. Eve smiled.

"Oh, he won't trust me. There is little love lost between me and my husband. No, there is a much greater pull for him in Beacon Hills than my simple insistence that he should go."

"And what is that?" Erica piped in. Eve gave her a cursory glance and continued.

"A doppelganger and a succubus in one town is quite a draw for an original vampire."

Derek's eyes widened, and his fists clenched at his sides. In the blink of an eye, he had Eve's throat in his hand, holding her several inches in the air, and his claws threatened to dig into her skin at the sides of her neck.

"Stiles is one thing, but you _will_ leave Lydia out of this," he hissed dangerously, his eyes flashing red as his rage built.

"Derek, you're such a foolish pup!" she chided him, gripping his wrists with her iron grip. He felt his hands going cold as she dug into his skin with her fingertips, but he refused to release her.

"If you get her killed, I swear I will tear out your heart and let it regrow so you can feel the pain as I tear it out again every single day for the rest of eternity," he threatened heatedly.

Eve's eyebrows rose appreciatively and she shrugged one shoulder the best she could with his hand around her throat. "I still think it should be up to her, but if you're that insistent about it..."

"I am," he finished, dropping her unceremoniously to the ground.

Rubbing her throat, Eve glanced at the betas before looking back at him. "They disagree with you, you know. They're just too loyal, or afraid, to say it. I, on the other hand, am not afraid of you despite your threats."

He glared at her as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Give her the choice. You can't always be the one to protect her, Derek. You have to allow her to protect you."

"She can't!" he barked, his voice breaking with emotion. His betas eyed him confusedly, unused to seeing him display any emotion besides anger. "She can't..." he repeated, shaking his head and looking out across the compound as he tried to sort through his emotions.

"I say we take a vote on it," Eve chirped, warranting an irritated glare from the alpha. She pressed on unabated, "All in favor of returning to Beacon Hills and asking Stiles and Lydia for their opinions about the issue, raise your hand."

She raised her hand as Derek crossed his arms stubbornly over his chest and glared at her. To his surprise, there was a wave of motion to his left, and he glanced over to see every one of his betas with their hands raised. "Oh, great, so you're on her side now?"

"It's not that we're on her side," Boyd clarified, dropping his hand to his side, "We just don't want you to allow your feelings to get in the way of the only plan that might actually work."

"We could infiltrate the tunnels, and it might work," Isaac added, "But we'd still be largely outnumbered on the ground, and five werewolves and a vampire can't kill all of those vampires." He nodded his head toward the camp where hundreds, perhaps thousands, of vampires swarmed like an angry hornets nest.

"I've known Lydia pretty well since we were kids," Jackson admitted, looking directly at Derek, knowing his words would make an impression. "And I know she would want to make her own choice."

Derek watched him for a moment, trying to judge if he was testing his boundaries but coming up with no answer. He didn't have time to figure out if Jackson was trying to piss him off or not. His pack was right: their best hope was to enlist the help of their friends. However much he personally disliked the idea, he had promised Lydia he would come to her if she could help. He would simply have to do everything in his power to keep her safe, even if that meant losing his own life in the process.

Eve smiled as she felt the resolution emanating off of him before he ever spoke. Drawing himself up, he set his feet and nodded resolutely, "We go to Beacon Hills."


	8. Chapter 8

Lydia found herself drawn to the forest for some inexplicable reason. Walking barefoot through the shadowy trees, she gazed around, remembering vividly the last time she'd wandered through the forest alone. It had been when Peter had been playing his mind games with her, leading her to the burnt out husk of a house where the Hale family had lived. That time, she'd felt uneasy and strange even as she found herself drawn to the house through the woods, but this time she felt different. Somehow, she knew she was safe and nothing would hurt her.

The birds chirped in the trees, and she heard rabbits and other small critters dart away from her through the leaves. Her hands ran over her belly, which was quite large and round now, and she felt the baby shift its weight, saw its little foot pass across her stomach. She smiled, wrinkling her nose with a giggle at the sensation. When she finally looked up, her heart leapt in her chest as she saw a figure materialize in the trees ahead of her.

"Derek..." she whispered incredulously. He'd been away for a week, and she must be dreaming. She dreamt of him often, so perhaps this was simply a very realistic dream. However, he'd heard her say his name, and he smiled, stepping toward her. She knew it was really him.

She ran toward him, leaping into his arms as he hugged her to him, spinning her around in a circle and kissing her lips. The joy she felt just to see him overwhelmed her, even more powerful thanks to her heightened hormones.

When he set her back on the ground, she looked up into his light eyes confusedly. "I thought you wouldn't be back for a while..." she stated questioningly, her ears perking at the sound of more footsteps through the leaves to her side.

"I didn't think I would be, but plans changed a bit," he admitted, his voice sounding tense. She could tell by the way he glared into the trees as the figures appeared from the shadows that he wasn't happy with how the plans had 'changed', but he didn't explain further.

His four betas appeared, clustered together as a pack, followed closely by the mysterious, confident vampire Eve. The woman had scared her at first, but now she knew she was merely a desperate female in need of help. Eve may be a supernatural creature thousands of years older than her, but Lydia knew she wasn't just a weak human. She was the mate to an alpha, and she was a succubus on top of that. Maybe she had no clue what that meant exactly, but it meant something and it gave her confidence.

A fifth figure arrived, crashing through the brush and almost falling on his face in the leaves before catching himself and looking wildly around at the ground. Lydia covered her mouth to stifle a giggle as Stiles straightened his clothes and peered around the group. She turned to glance up at Derek as she shifted to stand beside him, her hand cradled in his as she nestled into his side for comfort and just to feel him close to her.

"What's going on here?" Stiles asked before she could ask the same question. Derek shifted at her side, but he remained stoically silent as Eve stepped forward, her calculating eyes examining Stiles so brazenly it almost made Lydia blush.

"You _are_ marvelous," the vampire crooned, circling Stiles who watched her in befuddlement as she ran a finger along his chest and trailed onto his back. "Exactly alike in every way..."

"What is she talking about?" Lydia asked, glancing up at Derek and wishing she had an idea what in the world was going on.

"Stiles in a doppelganger," Derek explained, confident in her intelligence and not feeling the need to explain to her the way he had to with his betas, "...for her husband, Adrian, the vampire who wants to take all werewolves into slavery to serve him."

Lydia's green eyes widened and she turned back to look at Stiles in a new light. She couldn't imagine an evil mastermind behind that sweet, innocent face and goofy exterior. She had known Stiles most of her life, and he'd always been a gentleman, the class clown, and an overall sweet person. To imagine Adrian looked identical to him, but was everything Stiles wasn't, disoriented her.

Eve took a moment from fawning over Stiles to glance Lydia's direction with a coy smile on her face. "I don't believe I was able to properly congratulate you before. I'm sure you'll make an adorable little puppy." Her tone was playful even as her words were derogatory, and Derek growled, glaring at her. Lydia patted him reassuringly on his arm, shaking her head so he knew the words didn't get beneath her skin.

"Can someone tell me what the hell is going on here?" Stiles asked again, his brown eyes widening in that goofy look of exasperation that was characteristic to him. Eve redirected her attention to him, her arm sliding around his shoulders as her lithe body melded to his side. Erica stepped forward jealously, but Boyd and Isaac held her back. Lydia knew the girl had a crush on Stiles, whether he was aware of it or not, and Eve's blatantly seductive flirting was embarrassing, making her feel she was intruding on something uninvited. Eve ignored them all as her finger traced down the length of Stiles's jaw and he looked at her with skeptical eyes.

"You, my dear, are an... exquisite," the vampire spoke the word like it was a lover, sliding off of her tongue like a draught of the finest wine, "...replica of my soon-to-be-dearly-departed husband."

Stiles fixed her with dark eyes and the werewolf pack shifted uncomfortably, almost in unison. "Just get to the point and stop drooling all over him, Eve," Derek chided, his eyes darkening with impatience. Eve rolled her eyes like a child having her game cut short, and she petted the side of Stiles's face as the teenager stood watching her without a fear in the world. Out of everyone she knew, Lydia considered Stiles the bravest of them all, and he didn't flinch as the vampire queen smiled hungrily at him.

"Stiles here is a doppelganger," Eve continued, glancing over at Lydia pointedly. "Your friend Lydia is a succubus." Stiles turned and looked at her, his eyes showing more of his surprise than anything else about him. Lydia watched him, judging if he thought differently of her for knowing what she was, but she saw that same care and compassion in his eyes that she'd always seen. Stiles would always love her for her no matter what, and she appreciated that more than she could explain.

"The two of you together are a very powerful mixture," the vampire divulged further, circling Stiles and facing Lydia, her arm still draped over the teenage boy and sending Erica into a fuming rage as she stood with her arms crossed between Boyd and Isaac who sufficiently held her at bay.

"So you basically want to use us as bait to kill your husband?" Lydia asked, feeling Derek's hand tighten around hers as the words left her lips. She knew he didn't want this, knew he didn't want her in the crossfire of this looming war, but she had to help. She couldn't leave him to protect her all the time, especially if she could help. She simply wasn't that type of woman.

"You do catch on quickly," Eve stated, impressed. Stiles shifted his weight so her arm fell off of his shoulders, and he turned to face her, fixing her with his caramel brown eyes.

"Your husband? Doppelganger? What the hell-"

"Her husband is the king of the vampires," Derek explained carefully, "He wants to enslave all werewolves to protect him while he goes on a campaign to wipe humanity off the face of the earth."

"Which would greatly diminish the vampire food supply and make me rather unhappy," Eve added, pouting.

Derek ignored her and dredged on, "You are the king's doppelganger. You're descended from his human lineage. There are many myths and legends about a doppelganger's power over the person they're descended from. We're hoping your existence will lure Adrian here, away from the protection of the other vampires, and we can kill him."

"Where do I come in?" Lydia asked.

Eve smiled and placed her hands on her hips as Stiles put some distance between them, moving toward the group of betas. "A succubus is very influential over other supernatural creatures, and humans as well, as I'm sure you already know."

Lydia bit her bottom lip on the inside of her mouth and felt Derek shift his weight uncomfortably beside her, his arm encircling her instinctively, always protecting her. She drew herself up, refusing to feel weak in front of this ancient vampire.

"Fine," she stated firmly, causing Eve's eyebrows to raise as she glanced ever so quickly toward Derek before looking back at Lydia with a triumphant gleam in her eyes. Derek cleared his throat and looked away from them both, unhappy that she was getting into the middle of the battle but refusing to renege on his promise to allow her to contribute if he needed her.

"What do we need to do?"

Stiles nodded, deciding he was in if Lydia was in. He would do whatever he could to keep his town safe, almost as if he was the sheriff-in-training. Perhaps he would be sheriff one day... if they survived this.

No, she couldn't think like that, Lydia chided herself. She had a child to think about, a child who she refused to allow to live without parents. She would do everything in her power - natural and supernatural - to protect that child for her sake and Derek's.

"I know a way to get Adrian here, and you just have to act yourself when he arrives," Eve chimed, glancing toward Stiles and back at Lydia.

"How will we know which one is him?" Lydia asked, looking at her dear friend who shifted uncomfortably and swallowed, his adam's apple leaping up and down in his throat.

"I'm sure you will be able to tell," Eve commented, skirting around the answer. "The presence of his doppelganger will disorient him, and then you merely have to swoop in with your charm and we'll finish him off. Easy as that."

"You basically have no plan," Derek barked, irritatedly, "You just want to dangle them in front of him and hope we can kill him while he's preoccupied."

Eve gave him a hurt look, pouting with her bottom lip out. "Now, now Derek, I wouldn't be so careless, but I can't give away all of my secrets, can I?" She smiled, her eyes glinting with mystery that put Lydia on edge. Looking over at Stiles once more, she placed the slender point of her index finger beneath his chin and pushed his head up as she examined his bone structure.

"I will have to keep this one though," Eve commented off-handedly. When Derek moved to react, she spun like a blur of motion, scooping Stiles up with her and disappearing into the trees so fast Lydia barely comprehended what had happened.

Erica cried out and leapt toward the empty space where Eve and Stiles had just stood. Derek's arm fell to his side as he realized he'd been too late.

"Where did she take him?" Lydia asked worriedly, following Derek as he walked the direction Eve had disappeared. He shook his head as the betas congregated around them, staring off into the shadows where the two had disappeared.

"With Eve, no one can know, but she can't go far. She needs Stiles to lure Adrian here," he commented, feeling unsure of his words but forcing himself to sound confident. He turned to look at them, his eyes moving over the five of them before resting on Lydia, the one face who comforted him.

"We'll find him, but until then, let's get ready for whatever plan this is the vampire bitch has in mind," he stated, his tone harsh. He hated not being in on Eve's plan, and it irritated him that the vampire queen refused to let him in on the details. "We'll be ready for Adrian when he gets here."


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry, no Dydia in this chapter (I know, I know), but we finally get to meet Adrian in the flesh. Also, Stiles loses his virginity, so it's not all bad. ;)**

* * *

Although the room was pitch-black, so infinitely dark even his vampire eyes couldn't see a detail, he sensed another presence in the room before the light flicked on to reveal her.

"Eve," Adrian stated simply, his voice emotionless as he watched her with an unreadable expression on his face. She smiled in that impish way of hers as she uncrossed her arms and glided toward him, reaching for him as she grew close. He easily sidestepped her and walked past her to the dresser where he removed his watch and laid it down, his back toward her.

"I've missed you," she purred, moving soundlessly across the room to stand directly behind him, her hands massaging his back as he glanced up to look at her reflection on top of the dresser.

"What do you want?"

"Why must I want something? I just wanted to see you, my love," she replied easily, her blue eyes flickering.

Adrian smiled a grating smile and began unbuttoning his shirt. "You always want something. Not to mention the fact you're far too intelligent to wander into my chambers after openly hating me for a century and expect me to think all you want to do is flirt with me." He turned to face her, his caramel-colored eyes examining her candidly.

"You always believe the worst about me," Eve pouted, resting her hands on his chest, flattening out the fabric while one finger trailed onto his bare skin that seemed to glisten in the light of the room.

Smoothly, he caught her wrist and bent her hand away from him. It didn't cause her pain, but she merely smiled coyly and backed away, knowing how far she could honestly push him before he would snap.

"What do you want?" he repeated, leaning lazily back against the dresser, his impatience with his estranged wife building.

Eve backed away from him, spinning and examining the room as she did so. "I have something you would be _very_ interested in," she explained, slowly circling the room as he watched her intently.

"I highly doubt that," he commented, "You haven't had anything I've been interested in for at least a century or more."

"Oooo very low blow, Adrian," Eve chided, eyeing him with a dark smile. He ignored the comment and crossed his arms over his chest as he waited for her to reach her point.

"I happen to know where you can find a succubus," she hissed, the words crossing her tongue like they were sweet to her taste. His interest perked at the word: succubus. She knew he had wanted one for many years, and he knew she recognized his weakness. His plan would go off without a hitch if he could get his hands on one, and it mildly irritated him that she would hone in on his desire to obtain such a creature.

"And where would that be, my dear?"

Eve smiled and crossed the room toward him in a flash, her lithe body pressed against him as her finger trailed up his chest to his chin. He didn't push her away only because he wanted to hear what she had to say. He felt nothing for this woman, and he hardly remembered the time when he had.

"Beacon Hills, California," she whispered tauntingly, leaning toward him until her lips were close to his. "And that's not even the best part."

He raised his eyebrows, "Is that so?"

She nodded with a smile. "She is the mate to a werewolf, and not just any werewolf." She paused for dramatic effect, her bright eyes looking up into his gaze. "An alpha."

Excitement sparked within him at the word. A succubus mated to an alpha werewolf? How could this get any better? With control of the succubus, he would have control over the pack, and he would have the protect he required to make his grand move on humanity. He would be unstoppable.

A wistful look filled his eyes, and a feeling of victoriousness washed over Eve as she watched it. Adrian had always been in love with his power more than with her, and she had always coveted a powerful man. They had worked well together for quite a while until their mutual hatred outweighed the great sex and scheming. However, even after all this time, she was drawn to that look in his eyes, and if she had a heart it would be beating like a racehorse nearing the finish line.

"It gets better," she whispered hotly, this power play between them almost as good as sex. Adrian's brown eyes drew down to her, wild with the possibilities of having what he wanted most. "The alpha is of the Hale bloodline."

"The ancient Hale bloodline..." he repeated, his voice weak with hunger.

"He doesn't even know what he has," she added, smiling darkly as he looked down at her, arousal rising in his gaze.

"A succubus part of the Hale bloodline," he smiled finally, his hands going to her hips and tightening around her with a grip so hard it would bruise a human woman, "You have lived up to your promise: I'm interested."

"I knew you would be," she purred lustily, leaning against him so their hips ground together. "There is something else you should know, husband."

"Hmmm," he growled, leaning toward her, his nose beneath her ear as his lips touched her skin there, causing her to lean her head away from him to savor the touch.

"Your doppelganger lives."

The words brought him pause, and he leaned back enough to glare into her eyes. "That's not possible. I killed out that line many years ago."

Eve smiled wickedly, digging her fingers into his loosely-buttoned shirt. "Apparently you missed one. I've seen him with my own eyes. He's a rather... exquisite specimen." She raised an eyebrow and smiled as he ground his teeth together.

"I know what this could mean for you, and I'm willing to help you take care of the problem," she admitted, her eyes growing baleful and innocent. Instantly, he mistrusted her.

"Why would you want to help me?" he asked, not pushing her away, but glaring daggers at her. "Your humanitarian side doesn't want me to win. You've done everything in your power to stop me for the past two hundred years. You are the most beautiful viper ever to live: devastatingly beautiful on the outside and deadly poisonous on the inside. What would lead you to believe I would ever trust you?"

"We both want the same thing, my love," she retorted hotly, the pet name coming out as a taunt more than an endearment. "Power."

He slowly raised his eyebrows and tilted his head back as he watched her with his penetrating gaze. Eve could read emotions, and Adrian was very skilled at reading intent.

"You're a duplicitous bitch," he hissed.

"And you're a power-hungry bastard," she replied simply, no hurt in her tone, "We're perfect for each other. Who else would help either of us?"

He smiled slightly, knowing she was right. They'd always made the perfect team: both heartless and relentless unlike anyone else.

"You take me to my succubus," he already referred to this creature as belonging to him, such was his ego, "And help me destroy my doppelganger, and then we live our separate lives in peace."

"Deal," she agreed, leaning in to kiss him heatedly. He returned the kiss and threw her back onto his bed, tearing her clothes to shreds as he removed them in his haste to satiate his lusts, turned on by his lust for power and requiring a release.

* * *

Stiles investigated the small flat where he'd been deposited. He'd somehow managed to fall asleep or pass out after Eve grabbed him in the forest, and he had no idea where he was only that he was alone. He hadn't seen her since she'd awoken, and he knew better than to think she'd left him with a guard. Something about the vampire queen told him that she didn't trust anyone but herself with him, and she'd made it rather clear how valuable he was to her.

He'd found a computer nestled into a technological corner of the apartment, and he'd managed to research doppelganger's before his teenage stomach had growled so irritably he'd had to feed himself. Doppelgangers, in every bit of lore he could find, were known as the 'evil twin' of the person they mimicked, rumored to bring misfortune and illness to their look-alike. He didn't know how he would be able to do such a thing, but apparently Eve had a plan.

Rummaging through the refrigerator, he found himself some cheese and burritos and was busy heating them up in the microwave when the front door swung open to admit the vampire queen into the living room. Her eyes instantly went to him, sensing his thoughts before her eyes could see him, and she smiled benignly at him. He hated the way she smiled. It was so calm and creepy like an alligator smiling at you before it bit your head off.

"Hungry?" she asked congenially, gliding toward him wearing a flowing white peasant blouse and jeans. She looked like any other teenage girl, except so beautiful he thought his eyes may break if he watched her for too long.

"Um... yeah," he managed to respond, pulling the burritos out of the microwave when he pinged to notify him it was finished nuking his food.

"I'm sorry I left you alone for so long," she apologized, her blue eyes widening into that doe-eyed look that made him instantly feel that he should be the one to apologize while also wondering if she was going to stab him.

"You don't have to be scared of me, Stiles," she murmured, advancing on him slowly like a predator on the hunt. He swallowed heavily and held the plate of burritos up between them like a barrier. She merely smiled and took the plate from him, setting it on the countertop.

"I'm... not. Not scared of you," he choked out, pursing his lips and shaking his head vehemently. It was a bald-faced lie, but oh well.

"Yes, you are," she corrected, circling him, her hand grabbing his butt, causing him to cry out 'Whoa!' in surprise.

"But you needn't be," she finished, smiling victoriously as she came back around to face him. "I don't want to hurt you. I'm actually rather... fascinated by you to be honest."

He fixed her with a skeptical gaze and raised one eyebrow. "What? Why?"

She pressed her finger beneath his chin, causing him to follow her obediently like a puppy as she guided him toward the couch, pushing him down on it and straddling him with her knees. He had to admit, she was so breathtakingly beautiful he wasn't going to resist her, especially since the only girl who'd ever admitted to liking him was Erica and he'd never even kissed a girl. At least not outside of his dreams. She smiled, reading his emotions of attraction and intrepid, leaning over him so her perfectly sculpted face was inches from his own. His heart sped up as he smelled her sweet perfume - or vampire scent or whatever - and he struggled to keep his eyes on her face.

"You look just like him, but you're nothing like him," she mused to herself in a low, drawling voice that made his head spin. He supposed she was referring to Adrian, this husband of hers she'd mentioned briefly and wanted dead.

"I certainly hope not since you want to murder him. I wouldn't want to have much in common with a guy everyone wants dead," he joked, always joking to ease the tension.

Eve smiled, her blue eyes twinkling, and he wondered briefly how the hell she could manage to be so perfect. Every other girl he'd ever seen paled in comparison to her, and he found it a bit unfair that supernatural creatures got great looks on top of awesome super powers.

"You want me," she stated simply, sitting up in his lap so the round mounds of her breasts rose and fell with her movements, and he had to fight himself to keep his gaze on those blue eyes.

"Um... well... you're married, so..."

Eve laughed, the sound of it tinkling like bells around the room. Even her damn laugh was perfect. "Hardly. Adrian and I haven't been in love since we were fledgling vampires, and even then it was out of necessity: who else would love us? Even the sex hasn't been good in _ages_."

"Sex, oh, well, I..."

"You've never had sex, have you, Stiles?" she asked, smiling knowingly down at him, her fingers running down the sides of his face as he tried to look at anything but her statuesque body on his lap.

"Well, I... no, I've never had sex." There was really no point in lying to her. It would only entertain him, and right now he didn't need much entertainment since he had an original vampire sitting on top of him.

"I want to have sex with you, Stiles," she commented brazenly.

He guffawed awkwardly, drawing back and shaking his head, then nodding, then shaking it again: his mouth gaping open and closed at the statement.

"I don't think that, uh..."

"Awww, why not?" she asked, pouting playfully and digging her fingers into his shirt, shifting her weight on him so his body reacted most disobediently.

"Well, you're married," he pointed out again, making her roll her eyes and lean in to stare directly into his gaze. He saw her pupils dilate and shrink again as if she was about to compel him and decided against it.

"What Adrian and I have is an unfortunate coupling if anything," she corrected him, running her index finger down the side of his smooth face, watching it the whole time. "We were technically never officially married in a court of law, if you want to get really specific."

"Well, you're about two thousand years older than me, give or take a few hundred," he reminded, his eyes feeling like they were going to strain out of their sockets due to the vehemence he was using to stare at her eyes and not openly lust over her body.

"Silly boy, I'm only seventeen, can't you tell?" she asked, sitting up and planting her hands on her hips to show off her youthful form. He lost his control over his eyes at that point, and he raked her body with his gaze before he was able to stop himself.

"You're so honorable, Stiles," she noted, sitting forward so he felt her jeans rub against his most tender areas, "So unlike Adrian. Your nobility alludes back to a time long before your own, but I suppose that's only a given considering you are a doppelganger. You probably have some remnants of those who have gone before you.

Adrian killed all of the others, you know," she informed him, making him look up at her with his brow drawn down. Eve smiled, "He doesn't like the idea of anyone having control over him. As a doppelganger, you have a control over him that he dislikes greatly. Hence the reason he's eliminated your line."

"That's.. comforting," Stiles replied, rolling his eyes in exasperation. Eve shushed him, her fingers going to the buttons on his shirt and releasing the top two before he realized what she was doing and grabbed her wrists.

"Whoa now."

"Don't resist me, Stiles," she whispered, leaning over so her lips were inches from his. "I need to feel you."

He laughed awkwardly and tried to push her away, but there was no chance he could out-brawn a vampire, especially an original vampire. As his hands went to her waist in an attempt to rid his lap of her, instead she leaned in to him so his hands slid right over her hips and encircled her and he naturally sat back into the couch so he was forced to look directly into her beautiful face. She was breathtaking, and even without compelling him, she was irresistible. He was a teenager after all, and his hormones were on edge at all times, pumped up by testosterone and thoughts of sex.

He was obviously turned on by her, and she smiled as she felt his hard-on beneath her. If only there was a way to hide that sort of thing, but alas, he was a guy. Without taping it to his leg, he had no hope.

"I-"

"Shhh, no talking," she silenced him, leaning in and kissing him suddenly.

It was like his brain was on fire, and he wasn't sure if that was how a first kiss always felt or if it was because she was a vampire on top of it all. Either way, it was thrilling and his eyes flew open wide before he gave in and kissed her back. His hands gripped her hips, an inner struggle between still wanting to push her away because it was the honorable thing to do or wanting to pull her hard against him so he could feel those curves of her luscious body. Her hands cupped his face before sliding along his jawline, beneath his ears, and around the back of his shaven head. Eve shifted her weight, her breasts almost coming in contact with his chin before he broke the kiss and simply tore his shirt off, too impatient to unbutton it.

She smiled a lusty smile and stood, pulling her own shirt off over her head and tossing it away, revealing her porcelain skin and perfect breasts, bouncing slightly in her pink bra. Her fitted jeans were gone almost as swiftly, and she was suddenly standing before him in nothing but her underwear. Bending at her waist, she undid the button on his pants and pulled them off, dropping them in a heap on the floor, biting her bottom lip as she smiled playfully at him. If he didn't know better, he'd never have imagined she was a centuries-old vampire. They way she looked at him, however brief the flash of the emotion was, looked innocent and intrepid as if his judgement of her meant more to her than anyone's before him. It was strange, but he saw it as she leaned in and kissed him, felt it as her lips met his tenderly, questioningly.

He kissed her back, telling her without words that he was ready and he did want her. It was insane that he was doing this, but he couldn't - and wouldn't - back out now. When she straddled him again, nothing between them but her lacy panties and his boxer briefs, he wrapped an arm around her back, holding her against him as he shifted his weight, laying her on her back on the couch while he hovered over her. Kissing her hungrily, he held himself up as she danced out of her underwear and deftly divulged him of his.

He knew he was awkward and clumsy, as anyone is their first time, but Eve never complained. Instead, she guided him, accepted him, and moaned when he finally found his way inside of her. He came almost instantly, and the sound of her victorious, tinkling laugh did him in as he tensed on top of her. She showered him with kisses, pulling him down on top of her hard so the full length of him drove deeply inside and took his breath away. It was equally as easy for her to get her own orgasm (thanks to being a vampire and well more high-strung than a normal human female), and they were panting in harmony as Stiles moved to roll off of her, sitting up on the couch and sucking in a deep breath.

His virginity was a thing of the past. And he'd lost it to a vampire. How ironic that his life would turn out this way.

"That... was marvelous," Eve whispered breathily, sliding up beside him on the couch, draping her legs across his lap and leaning her head on his shoulder. His body felt more alive than it had in the history of his memory, and his arm naturally encircled her as she leaned against him. Not only had he just had sex, with a vampire, but now he was spooning with one. He would have laughed if he had the energy to do so.

"Vampires can't get pregnant, right?" he asked randomly. "I mean, Twilight is really my only reference for that sort of thing, and that just makes it more confusing."

Eve chuckled and shook her head. "No, vampires cannot get pregnant."

"Well, that's good. I don't need Adrian finding another reason to murder me."

Smiling, Eve looked at him and kissed his cheek, carefully veiling her emotions about the encounter. "He'd probably be more grateful than anything. I'm entertained and he has his diabolical plan to worry about; how much better could it be?" She raised her eyebrows twice and smiled as Stiles shook his head amusedly. He couldn't believe he was sitting her chatting with a naked vampire queen in his lap, wearing nothing but his birthday suit. Surely, he was dreaming.


	10. Chapter 10

Lydia woke to a sudden chill in the air. Her eyes flew open and she quivered beneath the blankets, but she dared not move. Darkness surrounded her, and her eyes only adjusted to the lack of light because she'd been asleep for a few hours. Her heart raced and she tried to force herself to be calm but she couldn't. An irrational fear chilled her mind and numbed her, and she carefully trained her eyes around the room. There was nothing at first, and she took a deep breath in an effort to calm down. Everything was fine. There were no big spooky monsters waiting to kill her.

But her heart continued racing.

There was movement out of the corner of her eye, and she snapped her head toward the shadows, seeing a shape materializing out of the darkness. This had really been happening too much lately.

Eve's smile was the first thing to come into focus, then the rest of her. She was dressed in black leather, and the smile wasn't the one of cool nonchalance. It was menacing, like she was hungry and hadn't eaten in months. Before Lydia could open her mouth to ask her why she was here, the vampire queen's eyes turned a murderous shade of red and she bared her fangs, hissing as she leapt toward Lydia. The last thing the girl heard was her own scream before everything went black.

* * *

Lydia gasped and sat upright in the bed, instantly regretting the sudden movement as a twinge of pain shot across her rounded belly. Grimacing in discomfort, she breathed heavily and placed a protective hand over her stomach.

"Lydia... what's wrong?" came that familiar gruff voice as Derek sat up beside her in the bed. She couldn't look at him. The nightmare had been too real, and she felt so unsafe in the aftermath. She knew she was being silly, but her half-awake mind couldn't reason as proficiently as her wide-awake mind could, and she couldn't get the image of Eve attacking her out of her brain.

"It's... nothing," she lied, looking around the corners of her room to assure herself that no one lurked in the shadows. She knew she couldn't close her eyes again, not yet, as long as the fingers of that nightmare itched at her mind.

"You're lying; I can hear your heart beating like you just ran a marathon," Derek argued, a strong arm encircling her shoulders as he pulled her against his bare chest. Brushing down her hair, he kissed her forehead tenderly. "Did you have a bad dream?"

"You could say that."

She felt him smile against her hair, and she ran her hand over her pregnant belly. There's was only a month left to go, and she had to do so much in that time. Apart from trying to prepare for a baby coming into her life, she also had to deal with the king of all vampires and his crazy wife and the fact that she was a succubus. Not to mention one of her best friends being a doppelganger for said-king of all vampires. She had no idea what she was doing or how things would work out this time. Before, she'd known clearly what had to be done: save Jackson. There had been a plan, and although it hadn't worked as planned, she had succeeded. Now, there was no plan; Eve had gone missing with Stiles in-tow, and the rest of them were basically sitting around waiting for Adrian to show up and kill them all.

That wasn't entirely true - she was being unfair - but it was how helpless she felt most of the time. She wanted to solve everyone's problems, and she wanted to know Stiles was safe, but she couldn't do any of that. All she could do was wait. Waiting was not her preferred option.

* * *

At school the following morning, she felt drowzy and out-of-sorts. Being eight months pregnant was bad enough on her nightly sleeping rituals, but the nightmare hadn't helped matters any. Rubbing her eyes, she swallowed the cotton in her mouth and opened her eyes to maneuver her way down the hall. Every one stayed out of her way nowadays, and she'd dropped down the social totem pole since her pregnancy news had gone viral. She didn't mind much though because she had far more to worry about than whether Joe or Mary thought she was the queen of the school.

She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts - and her exhaustion - that she almost didn't see him. Then she realized who was walking toward her, and her heart leapt with relief and joy.

"Stiles!" she cried, smiling broadly and running toward him, throwing her arms around him in a bear hug. He hugged her back with a small little chuckle and when she finally released him, she placed her hands on his arms and looked into his face. His hair was ever so slightly longer, and his eyes glittered almost hungrily as he looked down at her, but she sensed a feeling of immense relief in him that erased her doubts. She didn't think twice about whether this was Stiles in front of her or his look-alike Adrian Begnoche. Besides Scott, she was the most likely person to recognize Stiles when she saw him.

"Are you okay?" she asked, unable to keep the worry out of her tone, "When that bitch took you, we didn't know if you were alive or dead. I could have...grrr."

Stiles laughed, his eyes flashing mysteriously, and she couldn't tell if he was hiding something from her or if she'd touched on a sensitive topic. Gently, he touched her arm, running the palm of his hand over her shoulder as he focused intently on her eyes and smiled.

"I'm fine. You know you don't have to worry about me," he commented amiably, his voice calm and easy unlike she'd seen him before. "I'm a big boy."

His words were uncharacteristically soothing and a bit defensive, and her desire to believe this was him was the only thing keeping her clinging to her belief that Stiles was the person standing in front of her. But the more she looked at him, the more her inner doubts began nagging at her. His hair was longer, but after having a shaved head for most of his life, perhaps he wanted a change? His eyes were the same color, but there was a glint to them she'd never seen there before. She couldn't decide if it was a world-wizened glint or a maliciousness, however. It was his eyes that bothered her the most. Stiles never looked at her like he was hungry or angry, even when she'd told him she was in love with Derek and she would never feel the same way about him.

This was not Stiles.

She felt her chest swell, not with fear as she would have felt in the past, but with a strange sort of defensiveness which imbued her with confidence. Perhaps it was her motherly instincts kicking in, she didn't know, but she felt a low burning sort of anger over the fact this vampire would walk into her hometown - into her school! - and impersonate one of her best friends. He wanted to enslave her boyfriend, take him away from her and their child, and perhaps he had killed Stiles already. The rage began boiling within her, but years of practice at hiding her emotions served her well.

Lydia smiled a smile this vampire who didn't know her wouldn't be able to tell wasn't sincere. She reached out and instinctively gripped his hand, throwing him off guard for a brief moment before he recovered his expert composure. She could see it now so clearly, and she didn't know how she'd missed it before. His face was the same, but everything about him screamed difference. The evil rolling off of him was tangible, but she steeled herself, figuring he couldn't very well murder her in the middle of the hallway without drawing every eye in the nation - and the world - down on him in an instant.

Looking directly into his eyes without knowing why, she made sure he was focused on her as she spoke. Her voice was soothing, different than she'd heard it before with a strange sort of power to it as she spoke. "You are a big boy, aren't you?" she asked softly. His brow drew down slightly in confusion, but Adrian couldn't tear his eyes away from hers. Reaching up, she ran the backs of her fingers down the side of his familiar yet strange face, keeping him locked with her gaze the entire time. "You aren't Stiles at all, in fact." He stiffened beneath her touch but didn't move to attack her. Her self-confidence had swollen to a point that she somehow knew he wouldn't, and he couldn't even if he wanted to.

"You're Adrian, and you're going to leave. Now."

A surge of something within her gave her a hot flash, like a fire had sparked and rolled off of her, hitting Adrian full in the face. His eyes lost their focus on her and he instantly straightened. She watched in surprise and awe as she could see his muscles struggle against whatever spell was over him. He was a powerful vampire, and he had the strength to fight her, but he didn't have the will to do so. His brown eyes - so like Stiles's - glared at her, but he didn't move toward her.

"We will meet again, _succubus_," he hissed the last word like a curse and turned, stalking away from her.

Backing against the wall of lockers behind her, Lydia sucked in a huge breath and finally felt her heart racing wildly. What had she just done, and how had she done it?


End file.
